Okay, it's time for the real answer. Ready? Thomas Jefferson. 828,800 square miles of prime real estate that allowed an Empire to rise, for the price of $15,000,000 (in purchase price and debt forgiveness). Wow. What A TRADE.
Relative return doesn't mean shit. If a good trader is losing money he should stop trading and reassess his plan/strategy/setup etc. The fact he made $8k profit on his first day at work doesn't mean much either, it makes for a good story, but fundamentally, it doesn't say anything about his trading ability. Here is the hedge fund 100 for 2008, Cohen's fund is number 17. http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/BA_HF100_090511.pdf
what i find irritating about niederhoffer is that he is selling himself as some kind of a renaissance man . . . niederhoffer thinks this about beethoven, niederhoffer likes chess, niederhoffer on psychoanalysis, niedrhoffer on art you know what? niederhoffer blew up making unhedged bets on thai currency, something he knew nothing about. a combination of greed and negligence. quite frankly, i don't need niederhoffer to tell me about beethoven. i'd rather hear what glenn gould has to say about that chess. again, don't need niederhoffer. why not listen to kasparov instead. psychoanalysis. again, don't need niederhoffer. i'd rather get advice from a knowledgeable psychologist, a pro. such as ari kiev, and his highly effective podcasts so i don't need any of that self-proclaimed "renaissance man" bullshit if you blew up making unhedged bets on thai currency, just admit it . . . beethoven, chess and psychoanalysis have nothing to do with it . . . i'm interested in his P&L, per se. AND ONLY his P&L and quite frankly, i don't give a fuck about what he thinks about other things. there are high-quality self-made people out there who can tell us a lot about the markets - Linda Raschke, Brian Shannon, Joe 'Upside' Donohue, Tim Knight . . . it may sound like a stretch to some, but i do think they have achieved greatness . . . and we can talk to them, e-mail them etc i just don't need all that beethoven bullshit Varima
on the other hand this guy (fooled by randomness, black swan) does the opposite of victor. exact opposite! they both were good friends too and used to joke that they both were on opposite side of the trades.
I don't think any body here has heard of john arnhold besides u and me. I already did a search last year. also, he is highly controversial. many people think he trades on some inside information. u know he worked for enron and can predict where natural gas is going to go to the exact penny!
I guess no body has heard of Rakesh JhunJhunwalla.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakesh_Jhunjhunwala He turned Rupees 2500 Rs (say $250 back in 1980's) to billions.. He only trades for himself and is in the forbes billionaires list. He is my idol. Ofcourse i also idolize livermore.
you see what is the criteria for this ranking thread? Paulson just came popular and a few years ago no body has heard of him. Whereas, I have heard of steve cohen back in 1996 when my friend got a job with SAC. If some one became world number 1 in tennis for just one day, is he the best? or if some one stayed as world # 1 for the longest period of time would be the best tennis player?