3 Forex traders who got to the top
What could be more interesting than a success story? Forex the most liquid, 24 hours active market. Also, it is a place where anything is possible for everyone wanting to try luck. Here are three awesome stories of famous traders who started out in very different environments. But all have one thing in common: success.
George Soros: The Man Who Blew the Bank of England
Mr Soros is probably known as one of the most famous traders of all time. Born into a Hungarian Jewish family, he barely survived the Nazi occupation. While in college, George worked as a railroad baggage porter and nightclub waiter to survive.
After moving to New York City and working for several Wall Street brokerage firms, the real-life of this financial genius began. Soros is best known for busting the Bank of England in 1992. He made a huge bet against the pound sterling. He made a billion dollars in one night.
Soros is also known as the world’s greatest philanthropist. This virtuous billionaire used his fortune to create the Open Society Foundations. It’s an entire network of foundations, partners and projects spread across more than 100 countries.
In 2018, the Financial Times granted Mr Soros as “the person of the year”. According to the magazine, the decision was based not only on Soros’ achievements but also on the values he represented as a philosopher and philanthropist.
Andrew Krieger and the New Zealand dollar
Maybe the least known name on our list is Andy Krieger, who made one of the biggest single forex trades when he aggressively attacked the kiwi in 1987. As just a 32-year-old forex trader at Bankers Trust, Krieger carefully analyzed currencies following Monday’s infamous Black Crash, looking for coins that were overvalued and uncovering an opportunity for arbitrage. Krieger had taken a short position against the New Zealand currency worth hundreds of millions. According to some legendary accounts, his sell orders exceeded the entire New Zealand money supply at the time. Immense selling pressure and a lack of currency in circulation forced the New Zealand dollar down sharply, earning Krieger’s company millions in the process. Perhaps not surprisingly, Krieger later went to work for Mr Soros.
Ingeborga Mootz: million-dollar grandma
Some grandmas bake pies – and some of them become millionaires. Ingeborga Mootz is a 96-year-old millionaire who, at least 15 years ago, was just an ordinary German widow. Today she represents one of the most famous people in Germany.
She was born into a poor family and married at the age of 17 to escape poverty – but it didn’t give her much respite. Until the age of 75, every time she tried to find a job, her husband would put her down, calling her a stupid old woman unable to earn money. “If you think I can’t work, then I’ll trade in the market!” she told him one day, after losing her temper. She didn’t lie.
After her husband’s death, Frau Mootz uncovered more than 1,000 shares of a company he had worked for all his life. She made a decision to take the risk and put it on the line in order to end poverty. It was a very good decision: during the first eight years of activity, this energetic old woman earned more than 500,000 euros!
She is admired for her trading style: she does not use gadgets, the internet, or trading signals. Everything she needs to know she gets from the good old morning papers. If you are interested in how this type of strategy made millions for this old lady, find her book “Borsenkrimi” or “Stock market detective”.