Oh my, that must be a mistake, you could not reallly have nearly 13,500 posts. I am not being a jerk here, I have enjoyed many of your posts, you are a rare gem here. I am just a bit astonished by the number of them. Sorry, to get off track, keep it up.
When people say "trader" what comes into my mind is someone making short term bets using tape reading, superb money management and gut feeling, and in this case the king is Steve A. Cohen during the 1980-90s. If somebody knows a trader (according to the above mentioned definition) that is close to him please let me know.
Jesse Livermore wrote the best book. They used to have a U. S. Trading Championship, and Marty Schwartz pretty much retired the trophy. He also wrote a pretty good book.
Victor Niederhoffer sells out of the money puts. Do you really think that is a true trading strategy? He earned like 30-40% per year with limited drawdowns, but you can simply repeat his strategy. Just sell OTM puts when the volatility is high. No hedging, no stop loss. You may double or even quadruple your account but you never know when you lose it all. The only thing is for sure, in the long run you will lose 100%.
Livermore. No one else is in the same Galaxy. He made and lost and made again.....what?.....tens of billions in today's dollars?
I would vote Jesse L. Livermore, the best trader who traded with non-distorted with government intervention market.
Just look at the index for the Market Wizard books... These guys are the among the very best in the business
He has multiple finds at SAC, so if one lost 18% sure. No trader can make money every year and 2008 was a disaster for the vast majority of funds. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway stock underperformed SAC without seemingly taking much risk. Oh yea, what was the benchmark for the S&P 500 in 2008? -38.49%
I can make a case against everyone mentioned except Paul tudor Jones. He plays great defense- more concerned about losing. My definition of "great" does not include blowing out and going broke so Livermore is out for sure. B1S2 is a ridiculous choice. His use of stops so wide are ridiculous. Although Jim Rogers claims he is the worst trader on the planet, I would have to say, his advice has made me the most money as a long term trader in the last 7 years. I would include Jim from Renaisance(sp) since his style is closest to mine. No one who SERIOUSLY posts on ET is a great trader because a great trader would never give up his edge to strangers on the internet.