George Soros
Hungarian-American and London School of Economics alumnus George Soros is more famously known as the “man who broke the Bank of England”.
On Black Wednesday in 1992, his Quantum Fund sold short $10 billion (about Dh36.7 billion) in UK sterling, capitalising on stubbornness by the country in raising interest rates to levels comparable with the rest of Europe.
The push earned Soros $1.1 billion on a single trade and cost the Bank of England nearly $5 billion as it tried in vain to prop up the pound.
This is still widely considered the greatest trade ever made. Now an octogenarian, Soros is worth over $20 billion and recently returned all investor capital to focus on investing his own fortune.
John Arnold
The former Enron energy trading prodigy is one of the youngest billionaires on the planet.
Arnold made Enron three quarters of a billion dollars in 2001 before its collapse, and at the tender age of 26 took home an $8 million bonus. With that money he founded Centaurus Advisors, an energy hedge fund that would cement his legendary status in the industry.
In 2005 Centaurus returned 150 per cent to its investors. It is largely thought to be the party on the other side of ill-fated Amaranth Advisors’ bets on natural gas — a multibillion dollar fund that collapsed spectacularly that year.
Arnold shockingly retired in 2012 at the age of 38, choosing to dedicate his $3 billion fortune to philanthropic efforts.
Linda Raschke
The founder of LBR Group is perhaps the most famous female trader around. She started her career almost 30 years ago, trading equity derivatives in the trading pits of Philadelphia.
Since then she has evolved to start her own Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) fund, focusing on short-term futures trading. Raschke is very much hands on with day-to-day market activities, having authored a book on swing trading strategies and was featured in Jack Schwager’s iconic book, The New Market Wizards.
Raschke has consistently been ranked in the top 2 per cent of funds for the better part of a decade by fund index, Barclayhedge.
Ray Dalio
Known as the hedge fund king, Harvard graduate Dalio has endured in an industry that has a graveyard full of the smartest minds in the world.
He presides over the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, which manages an amazing $140 billion in client assets.
Even more astonishing is the fact that his firm has endured for nearly 40 years, having started from his apartment in 1975.
Known for practising meditative techniques in his trading routine, the $10-billion-worth Dalio has been called the Steve Jobs of the investing world.
David Tepper
Tepper topped the Forbes hedge fund money list last year, raking in a mind-bending $2.2 billion in 2012.
His $15 billion fund, Appaloosa Management, has consistently produced net returns of almost 30 per cent since inception in 1993.
Tepper first came to prominence in 2009 as he invested in several financial stocks that had taken a beating during the recession, recording his first billion-dollar payday. The business school of his university, Carnegie Mellon, was renamed after him in 2004.
Now this former Goldman Sachs employee has staked a serious claim to the trading hall of fame.
