positiveMost of the trades in the market go quietly by without making much impact.
There are winners and losers but sometimes trades are so spectacular that they create waves through the financial and wider world. Here is a list of 5 of the greatest trades ever:
1.
Who? Jesse Livermore
What happened? Jesse had gained notoriety for a number of large shorts that he had put in the stock market that had made him millions and gained him the title of the ‘Great Bear of Wall Street’. It was his prediction of the 1929 crash where he shorted the entire market that was to prove his most monumental trade.
How Much? $100 million (between 1.1 and 14.0 billion dollars in today’s money)
2.
Who? David Tepper
What happened? Tepper is a hedge fund manager who specializes in investing in distressed companies. After the Financial crisis in 2008 Tepper bought heavily in the severely depressed stocks of banks such as Citigroup and Bank of America which quadrupled in value.
How Much? $7 Billion making him the 166th wealthiest person on Earth.
3.
Who? John Paulson
What happened? At a time when mania ran through the housing market John Paulson saw a bubble that was about to burst and convinced banks to write credit default swaps on mortgage backed securities which paid dividends when the bubble finally burst.
How Much? His hedge fund made around $3-4 billion on the deal.
4.
Who? George Soros
What happened? During the 90’s Britain was experiencing a boom and the pound was trading on a fixed exchange rate. Soros started shorting the pound in massive amounts guessing correctly that the British government would soon realize the cost of maintaining a fixed exchange rate.
How Much? This ‘short’ bet alone netted Soros at least $1 billion.
5.
Who? Paul Tudor Jones
What happened? Using technical analysis Jones was able to predict the crash of 1987. The Dow dropped 22% and he was able to pick up a massive windfall as a result.
How Much? It is estimated that Tudor Jones made around $100 million.