Billionaire Forex traders are, Soros, Kovner, Druckenmiller, Lewis, Schwarzenbach, Steinhardt (?) with 24% annual returns over 28 years, Ngcobo ($2.4 bln networth) and more of course...
Although it's not a "rags to riches via one's own wit and determination" story; Mansa Musa of Mali could lay claim to that title. He made markets. Celebritynetworth.com has his adjusted fortune at $400 billion.
I think an interesting characteristic would be, what did you do with all that money? It is not exactly a performance characteristic, but unless you just want to keep score, wealth creation and ENJOYMENT should be the goal. 2 examples: 1. Navinder Sarao: I mean beside that he actually cheated, he still made 41 MM or so. Did he create wealth and enjoyed it? Fuck no, his mother was still working 2 jobs and he didn't own a car. What he invested in gaming companies he lost, the rest went to the SEC. This was a bad example of a good trader/cheater. 2. Livermore: Doesn't matter how many times he lost his fortune, he lived in luxury since he was 20. That is 4 and half decades. He shorted the great depression and at one point JPM asked him to stop doing that if there was going to be a market tomorrow. He obliged. He owned luxury railway cars, yachts, screwed stripers, aka what wealth creation should mean for the average Joe. And that was before computers or employing 2 dozen analysts.
User Sir Jack a Lot: www.reddit.com/r/TheRaceTo10Million/comments/rocxvo/magnum_dong_opus_2_cumpilation/ How he did it: www.reddit.com/user/SIR_JACK_A_LOT/comments/rocutv/serious_how_i_turned_35k_into_8m_in_21_months_by/
Take away money traded by global money center banks, large hedge funds and multi-national corporations and difference in overall liquidity is not that much greater than U.S. Treasuries. Anyway this is yet another pointless topic. What is gained by "knowing" who is top dog?
Not after he has been charged for insider info action. And it was difficult to prove him his illegal activities. I would not trust his success then. At least I cannot say to what extent it is built legally or not. There was just too much legal action against him.
In my mind a great trader is one who has long track record with few draw-down and shallw at that. Edward O. Thorp had a record of close to 20 years and only a few down months. Stephenie A. Cohen has a similar record in his early days. I saw a track record on fundseeder.com where an account went over 5 years and had no draw-down for any month. I have not seen that account on there in a while but it was an amazing equity curve. The flash in the pan make a million and blow up is not what you want. I want that nice smooth equity curve just a nice 2% plus per month for a long period will give you freedom.