Whether you’re new to forex trading, or a skilled trader in the foreign exchange markets, you’re likely to share one main goal:
To be profitable in the currency markets.
Today we are going to inspire your trading career with successful forex traders stories of 6 of the most profitable forex traders.
Plus by the end of the article, you’ll have some tips to become a successful forex trader yourself.
Check it out:
How Do I Become Profitable at Trading?
Hand on heart, the best way to learn trading is by learning and experiencing it at the same time.
How to learn forex trading is a hands-on skill, just like an electrician, plumber, surgeon etc.
The theory will never make you a penny.
The theory will just give you an understanding.
You will only become a profitable currency trader by actually partaking in the foreign exchange markets each day.
This gives you the all-important experience needed to transform theory into practice and therefore into profits.
There are two ways you can do this:
- Be self-funded (most common)
- Work within the industry
Either way, the only way to become successful is by DOING instead of THINKING.
The right education is necessary as well as putting you on the right track.
That’s why we provide our free forex course.
Here you can learn to trade the markets without costing you a penny, yet still, receive the best possible education that has been lost in the translation of many years of forex trader scams and rehashed copies of Babypips.
Here is one of the core principles behind becoming a profitable trader:
Never compare your PnL to someone else.
Focus on your account, your growth and your strategies only.
As soon as you get side-tracked by someone else’s online,
You’ll chase their results, their growth, their strategies.
Don’t lose your sight. You control of your results only.
— Alphaex Capital (@AlphaexCapital) July 27, 2020
Naturally, forex trading for beginners is a big place to start, you’ll be consumed by information stating the odds are against you.
It is true.
BUT
That is because those that fail do not understand there is a lot more than looking at charts and clicking buy or sell.
If you borrow the characteristics from some of the best forex traders in our list below.
Combine that with the right education and build a systematic trading strategy.
There is nothing stopping you from potentially making it on to this list ;-).
The World’s Most Profitable Forex Traders
Now before we dive into the list, we have to mention a few things.
Firstly, the list contains traders that have pulled off the most successful trades – it doesn’t mean they are the richest forex traders today nor are they a forex god.
(Although they may not be the richest forex traders in the world – they are rich in their own right – most are forex millionaires).
Each currency trader has had large forex returns monthly and annually, which is why they are on the list.
The list does not take into account the average forex trader income, this is purely on their largest trades that made them famous.
But it does expose how much do professional forex traders make if they hit the big time.
Finally, this list is proof of the question:
Can you make a living trading forex?
Because all of the below do and have done.
Without further ado – let’s get started with the top forex traders:
Starting with…
#6 Michael Marcus
Michael Marcus tells people he had no idea what he was doing at first.
In fact, he blew up a few accounts in his progress to becoming a successful trader.
It was only until he met Ed Seykota, another brilliant trader, that things started to fall into place.
Michael took $30,000 and traded his way to $80,000,000 through currency trading over a 10 year period, which is staggering.
Top Tip from Michael Marcus: He believed that in order to maximise your trades you must have the fundamentals, technicals and market tone going in your favour.
#5 Andrew Krieger
Another top trader from the Salomon Brothers.
Andrew Krieger managed to impress his superiors so much, they gave him a $700,000,000 trading limit.
Compared to his peers, who only had $50,000,000 to trade with.
This guy didn’t just make money, he completely took out a country’s currency liquidity.
Krieger had a sharp eye for assets that were overvalued.
The New Zealand dollar was his asset of choice in 1987, where he leveraged 400x and short sold the Kiwi.
This took out the amount of New Zealand dollars circulating.
It only took a few hours for this trade to play out with the Kiwi falling against the US Dollar by 5%.
This made his company a staggering $300 million.
Top Tip from Andrew Krieger: Fundamental analysis played a huge part in identifying assets that were overvalued. It is with this analysis he was able to take advantage of the Kiwi trade.
#4 Paul Tudor Jones
Paul Tudor Jones is a veteran in day trading the markets and one of the most successful forex traders going.
Worked on the commodities trading floor at NYSE.
He built Tudor Investment Corporation on the back of his well-known successes.
He’s generated significant returns for his investors of the past few years.
Most notably his short-selling of the Japanese Yen in 2013, which netted his firm a 20% return rate.
Generating hundreds of millions in returns.
Like many on this list, Paul Tudor Jones prefers to be a contrarian investor but is most known for his swing trading.
He has been known to call tops and bottoms of trends successfully on multiple occasions.
Top Tip from Paul Tudor Jones: “Never average loses.” Instead, decrease trading size when doing poorly, and increase when trading well.
#3 Bill Lipschutz
Bill Lipschutz is probably the most relatable in our last to how most forex traders start out.
Bill started trading forex when he was at college in the late 70s.
It was at this time he learnt how to trade and notoriously turned $12,000 into $250,000.
Quite an impressive feat.
However, like most beginners, he lost it all after a single bad trade.
This mistake, which lost him $250,000 became an invaluable trading lesson on risk management that remained with him through his career at Salomon Brothers.
Lipshutz joined the then newly formed foreign exchange trading desk, where he was an immediate success.
Earning $300,000,000 per year for Solomon Brothers for 3 years in a row.
Lipschutz then transferred his knowledge and skills to form Hathersage Capital Management, a hedge fund that specialises in currency trading.
One of the funds strategies has had an annualised 19.05% return since its inception in 2011.
Naturally, this type of return would draw attention to any investor.
Top Tip from Bill Lipshutz: Patience is the key to successful trading, you may make more money by just sitting on your hands instead of trying to alter a position.
This means:
That if most traders stopped tinkering with their trading ideas or stop losses, and only entered trades when their strategy rules have been met. And not out of boredom or FOMO.
Traders would have a greater probability of succeeding.
# 2 Stanley Druckenmiller
If you don’t swim in the big circles and consume your life with global macroeconomic data – then you may have never heard of this trader.
What led to his success as a speculator is his incredible understanding of global macroeconomic data, and how to position his capital.
His ideas took full advantage of his research before the market caught a whiff of what was going on.
Stanley Druckenmiller worked with George Soros at the Quantum Fund and had managed billions of dollars in his own fund, Duquesne Capital.
At Duquesne Capital, he was able to generate consistent double-digit returns over several years – which naturally brought wider attention to investors.
In fact, it was Stanley’s research findings that led to the infamous George Soros trade shorting the Pound Sterling.
Soros just had the money and the right attitude to risk that paid off.
It was also then Soros taught Druckenmiller a valuable lesson:
When you are right, you cannot be afraid to go all in. When you are wrong, you cannot be afraid to walk away.
This showed how much faith was placed in Stanley’s idea, which as we all know…
Paid off big time.
In fact, it was from this trade that he learned about the significance of active trade management.
Although his ideas were good, he owes it down to aggressively capitalise on trades when you are right, but be prepared to cut losses short if you are wrong.
This was his secret to becoming one of the worlds most profitable forex traders.
We’ve included an incredible interview that really delves deep with Stanley Druckenmiller.
If there is one thing you can do in the evening, or weekend, is to watch this.
You will understand why he was so successful and get a true insight into a brilliant mind when it comes to investing.
Top Tip from Stanley Druckenmiller: When you have a winning idea, be aggressive and add to it, scale it and get more out of the trade. But don’t be afraid to cut losses short and fast.
This approach reduces the significance of always being right or wrong.
#1 George Soros
A name made infamous with Black Wednesday, a day when George Soros reportedly earned more than $1,000,000,000 from shorting the pound sterling.
This places him as one of the most profitable forex traders in history.
In fact, this trade “broke” the Bank of England.
Soros owes that position from aggressive building upon the profits – just as he taught Druckenmiller.
This single trade cemented his name as a legendary investor.
Many look up to him and how he invested.
However, his methodology is rather simple and based on fundamentals:
Top Tip from George Soros: His attitude to risk and ability to cut losses short is what’s helped him avoid bad trades going worse.
Honourable Mentions:
Jesse Livermore
A special mention has to be for Jesse Livermore.
Jesse is certainly one of the most profitable forex traders to have lived.
Although he didn’t speculate with forex, mainly equities and commodities.
He did an excellent job at trading with very few resources.
In today’s money he would have made (and lost) $1.5 billion dollars 3 times over.
Imagine if he had kept his money?
His system was second to none and still works in today’s markets.
He was a true market speculator, with his rules and intuition – he really set the tone of how much traders could make.
In fact, he was a one-man operation.
Didn’t trade anyone else’s funds and back in those days, he had to write everything down.
Livermore focused on breakouts from pivot points or yearly high/lows, then cross analysed the stocks within the sector to pick out the best ones.
It was as simple as that.
Top Tip from Jesse Livermore: “Trade only when the market is clearly bullish or bearish”
This works with all assets – you want to see a trend so you have a better chance of turning a profit.
You want to go with the line of least resistance, right?
Larry Williams
Larry Williams is best known for his trading indicators, but he is also well known for generating an 11,300% return on investment in a 12-month competition in 1987.
This is one of the largest returns seen in the history of the competition.
His daughter Michelle Williams won the same competition with a 1,000% return on investment over a 12-month period.
I know what you’re thinking:
It’s obviously genetics, right?
Obviously not…
Larry Williams methodology is very simple and applicable in today’s markets.
His strategy and trading system have easily put Larry as one of the most profitable traders in the world.
Top Tip from Larry Williams: “The moment you learn to trade reality, not desire, you will drill a wall of fire to become a successful trader.”
This is a good point to raise:
As stated at the start of this list, most focus on the outcome of becoming profitable.
This is great, but you must trade what you have right now and what is in front of you.
Only then you can take each step to improve as a trader.
Richard Dennis
A final honourable mention is for Richard Dennis.
The co-founder and educator of the Turtle Trading system.
Richard Dennis exposed the idea, for the first time, that ANYONE can learn how to trade the markets.
In fact, using his rules and trading systems – he was able to teach 13 people how to trade profitably.
So much so, using his own funds, these traders netted $175,000,000 in profits over their time working with Richard.
So Richard not only made wealth for himself but opened the door to others.
Top Tip from Richard Dennis: “Trade small because that’s when you are as bad as you are ever going to be. Learn from your mistakes.”
This is a great tip as you get started trading with your own money.
Forex Trading Books With Successful Forex Traders
Help deepen your understanding by taking a look at these books.
We’ve curated a small list from Amazon so they are easily available to you.
Each book is either written by one of the successful currency traders or have been interviewed in them.
Each book exposes their thinking and trading plan.
Within these books, you may find the perfect trading strategy for you.
Here are a couple of the best forex trading books.
These books are:
Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders
How To Trade In Stocks
Way Of The Turtle
Long-Term Secrets to Short-Term Trading
Reckon you can make this list?
Has this given you the motivation to become as successful?
Now you know some of the best forex traders to follow, and some of the most successful forex traders in the world.
The majority of them started just like you.
Furthermore, this should answer any questions such as:
Is forex trading profitable?
Not only this, by seeing some of the top forex traders in the world and how they got there, but you can also now see clearly the possibilities are endless.
Look, even the most successful forex traders had to start at the beginning.
The key is generating consistent profits and not focusing on how many you get right or wrong.
A good starting point would be to learn more about support and resistance levels.
This is the key to becoming one of the most profitable forex traders in the world.
Once you have learned the basics and transitioned to the trading accounts, you will soon be on your way to becoming a great trader.