They retired and stopped trading. What is the point to keep trading if you got $5m on the account, you can just pluck it into long term investments and enjoy life. Trading is boring, why would one trade if one doesn't have to.
I can't imagine anyone with that kind of mentality will ultimately succeed in trading. All the greats truly love what they are doing -- they're not just simply doing it for the money as a certain endgame amount goal. Look at Japanese CIS trader, and another Japanese BNF trader. and American Dan Zanger. They have made way more than 5 million -- did they stop... The only people who stop at money are professional athletes...because they have to, their bodies give in at a relatively quick and young age.
Does this also mean a lot of the "serious traders" were the one's doing the "bickering" too...flexing their egos as well?
I can't imagine anyone trading their own money not pulling back the risk significantly or giving up trading all together once they've reached their "number". There is so much more to life than wasting it in front of computer screens looking at numbers. Trading your own money isn't boring, regardless of what you hear on ET. Ask anyone who has earned their entire net worth from trading risking their own capital and get back to me. It's super stressful. Sooner or later, you start compromising your health for extra PnL that has no marginal utility. There is a thin line between passion or love and an addiction. IMO, trading shouldn't be a life long choice, not even a career to be honest. You should make as much as you can as fast as you can, before your alpha disappears or health gets compromised. Just my 2 cents.
You'd think so, but the evidence is to the contrary. Seems like most successful managers/PMs/traders I've seen keep doing it until they run out of alpha. It's possible that the "number "is a moving target, of course (I've moved mine a few times in different directions). I have a 92-year old friend who is still passionate about the markets and investing and he's been doing it for like 70 years. PS. Just realized that you specifically talking about trading your own money. Why do you think that's different from punting OPM?
I am probably speaking out of my depth when it comes to managing OPM as I have no experience or interest in the area but I would guess for many it's the lifestyle, social status and perks that are probably quite addicting. It becomes more of a "keeping of a score" type of thing and not really a true passion for it. Unless you are giving away all profits beyond your "number" to help others how fulfilling can it really be to extract money that you will never spend or need? I call that shallow and a waste of a life. A bit judgemental but you asked As someone who trades their own capital the "number" being a moving target is something I can certainly relate to as well as being able to recognize the point where passion crosses addiction since those two will certainly drag your PnL in opposite directions.