Really Rich Guys - Top 10 Traders

[El Diablo]

Barron,

"i bet you'd find a far higher % that blow up vs. your average population of traders."

That's very true. A progression like this is not all that uncommon (usually not for quite these stakes though):

Guy makes very risky billion dollar bet (after a decent career managing smaller amounts). Wins. He is +$300m.

Now can raise much more easily. Guy makes very risky two billion dollar bet. Wins. He is +$900m. Call it a billion after fees.

Guy raises ten billion dollars. Loses five or ten billion. Still makes $300m in fees.

Here's a situation where someone is now worth over a billion, but their net track record is down billions.

LTCM, Amaranth (guys who blew out taking the other side of the guy in spot #1), and other big blowouts are all good examples of this. And most key players involved in those blowouts come back again with huge funds.

A lot of times this is just two guys making low expectation super high variance plays. Given the fee/carry structure (common for them to charge 3% of money invested + 30% of profits. SAC in one of his recent funds switched that to straight 50% of profits, but I don't think he's still on that), all that guarantees is that some trader is going to get super rich and high-profile.

Very few of these guys have track records that can be attributed to much more than variance, even if they are really good and really smart.