It's appalling that CNBC can propagate such utter bullshit. IIRC their AUM in late-2012 was hovering around $80MM and the 15% average ROI to date is even more absurd.
Regardless of success or setbacks Niederhoffer has had, as Surf has suggested he is without a doubt one of the greatest in terms of aiding others in having success and in teaching a model for thinking about the markets that works. Surf mentions The many centi-millionare hedge fund traders that are from his shop, but it is more than that. I find it extremely unlikely that any other person has helped more never on the floor, not connected traders create seven figure trading accounts. Regardless of anything else, his teaching and generosity of knowledge have been exceptional.
Thanks, MrN. No question about it. I simply don't understand the hate vibe toward him on this site--- it must be some kind of jealousy or extreme hatred of seeing someone achieve what they have not been able to accomplish. keep up the good work, surf
I don't hate the guy. The truth is that he blew up in short puts at least 3x. If that's your benchmark for success then so be it. Guy was managing $150MM for a reason. All those contacts don't amount to shit when you're known for risking it all on a single bet in short gamma. Great if you win, but it didn't turn out that way. Idolize Tepper if you value a guy who risks a huge nut on a single position. THAT guy can trade!
Have to disagree with some of these e.g. 1. If you have an edge you need to press it so long as the reasons for it are still valid. Refusing to trade it again would be throwing away money. 2. Shorting vol and fading stop-loss orders in obvious places can work well in inactive markets 5. The upward drift in stocks is minimal on trading timeframes (hours to months). If there's a great short-setup in a market, this totally overwhelms a 0.03-0.04% upward daily drift. And in bear markets the drift is downwards, not up. 6. Terrible advice. Often, fading central banks is the best play e.g. 1992 ERM crisis, 1997 Asian and Russian devaluations, 1999-2001 Argentina & Brazil devaluations, 2007-2008 western stock bear market, 2001-2002 bear market in USA, Greece bear market 2007-2012. Sometimes the best trade is to go with a central bank, other times that would be the worst possible trade. 7. This would have you being long dot.coms in April 2000, or housing in 2005-2007. 8. HFT firms have made a fortune in recent years from exploiting small profits per trade.