All Forex traders aspire to become super traders. Let’s consider the trader personality Andy Krieger. Most have a hunger for that one big deal which has the potential to immortalize their name in the currency trading market and the industry. However, contemplating about becoming a legendary trader is easier than accomplishing the goals which can get you there. It is still great to get a bit of inspiration from some of the world’s most diligent and hardcore traders. Andy Krieger is one of those legends.

Black Monday, 1987

People who belong to the trading markets and those aspiring to become successful traders all know about the fateful incident that took place on October 19^th, 1987, when the stock market crashed. Dow Jones ended up falling 22%. The days that followed gestured towards a massive collapse of the world’s stock markets and most markets fell by 20% by the end of October. To the surprise of many, this collapse was not triggered by any single event. Experts believe that the collapse was a result of a mass panic that ended up devouring the entire market.

However, amidst everything, there was one currency trader working with Bankers’ Trust who wasn’t too concerned about what was going around him.

Introducing Andy Krieger

Andy Krieger, after graduating from Wharton School, joined Salomon Brothers and in 1986 joined Bankers’ Trust. It wasn’t long before he made his mark in the company, being labelled as one of the world’s most assertive and hard-hitting dealers. It was his reputation in the market that led the Bankers’ Trust to gain the full confidence and support of the board members. And it was because of this that he had a trading limit of $700 million, compared to the normal limit of $50 million.

The Attack on the ‘Kiwi’

In the wake of the stock market crash on that day, which has been noted in history books as Black Monday, Krieger became overly convinced and confident that the Kiwi (the New Zealand dollar) was susceptible to attack. Krieger, in light of his research, his diligence and aggressiveness chose to hit the Kiwi and take advantage of the situation. By utilizing his trading options, Krieger had the ability to leverage massive amounts and could own and control up to $30 to $40 million in actual currency.

And he did not hesitate to use his advantage to land a big speculative strike on the Kiwi in 1987. Because of the fact that he had a fairly large trading limit, he decided to leverage it by trading currency option spiking up to 400:1, which allowed him to topple the a massive amount of money to crush the Kiwi dollar. As a matter of fact, Krieger’s short position ended up being so large that he said it went past the entire country’s money supply. In simpler terms, he controlled more Kiwi dollars then there were in circulation in New Zealand.

The Outcome

Krieger’s move to destroy the currency had a catastrophic effect on the Kiwi dollar. The New Zealand dollar dropped by 5% against the US dollar in a span of just a couple of hours, allowing Krieger to make a staggering $300 million profit for the Bankers’ Trust just sitting there. Of course, the reaction of the Bank of New Zealand wasn’t pleasant. They were outraged and rightly so, but Krieger responded to their outrage by saying something only a man of calibre can say. He made it clear that Bankers’ Trust did not make a position that was significantly big for them. Instead he said that New Zealand did not have what it takes to handle the operations carried out by the company.

The damage he inflicted on the Kiwi dollar caused a lot of controversy for the New Zealand Central Bank. So much so that the New Zealand Central Bank and government official kept on asking the bosses at Bankers’ Trust to get him out of their currency. Shortly after the Kiwi incident, Krieger resigned from Bankers’ Trust and found started working for another trading legend and guru, George Soros.

So we can see that Andy Krieger  is a trader personality. Part of why he resigned from Bankers’ Trust was also because of his disgust and anger at his former company which only gave a $3 million commission on a $300 million profit he made for them. After he left on good terms, Bankers’ Trust ended up reaffirming their foreign exchange and trade profits and that is because of the fact that they had no idea how Krieger operated and failed to understand his complex methods of trading.

Market Place

MKTPlace is a leading digital and social media platform for traders and investors. MKTPlace offers premiere resources for trading and investing education, digital resources for personal finance, news about IoT, AI, Blockchain, Business, market analysis and education resources and guides.

Every day, there are thousands upon thousands of trades and transactions which are conducted between investors all across the globe. However, if you come to think of it, many of those investors will not be remembered for anything.  And in this regard, the legendary trades which have become a memorable part of financial history have to be absolutely amazing indeed.

If you are thinking the guys who made it into the history books simply landed there through making tons of money in the market, then you are wrong. Some of the greatest trades ever made have been made by people who used their intellect, their gut feeling, and cunning and intuition to determine the right moment to strike and to make it big, even when everybody else thought they were simply nuts for making such trades.

Just pause and think for a second. The famous John Paulson shorted the housing market of the US when every trader on Wall Street deemed the market bullish. Jim Chanos kept his Enron shares short even though he knew the stocks were going to shoot up. Now, moves like those require critical analysis, thorough knowledge, and above all, they require grit.

Listed below are some of the greatest traders who have made history, by making some of the greatest trades in the world through their diligence, and their feats still stand unmatched:

Jesse Livermore – The Man Who Shorted the Market Collapse in 1929 and made $100 million 

jesse livermore quote

Jesse Livermore is regarded as the most famous short seller in US stock market history. He began shorting stock purely on gut instinct just before the San Francisco earthquake hit. Although there was no way he could have predicted the earthquake, the trade did make him $250,000, which led to him consistently short selling stocks in the market. Shortly after, in 1907, he went on to make millions when he shorted the market collapse.

However, it wasn’t until 1929 that he made it into the big leagues. It was when he shorted the whole stock market and made a cool $100 million in the process. Imagine that! He is deemed as the pioneer of short sell trading and was the inspiration for the book, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, which is a fictional account of a trader.

Paul Tudor James – The Man who Made $100 million by accurately Predicting Black Monday in 1987 and Shorting the Entire Stock Market

paul tudor jones quote

Utilizing the analysis from technical reports, various evaluations, and the historical information of S&P, Paul Tudor Jones accurately predicted that the market will collapse in 1987, and followed through by short selling his stock in huge quantities. And as he predicted, the Dow dropped by 22%, which made him an estimated $100 million.

Subsequently, PBS made a documentary about Paul Tudor Jones, which was named Trader, and just after its release, Jones went out and bought all the copies so that no one else could see the documentary. He was concerned it could reveal his trading secrets.

Andy Krieger – The Man who shorted the Kiwi in the 1980’s and Ended Up Making $300 million

Back in 1987, when the market crashed on Black Monday, a majority of the investors discarded the US dollar and began to look for other currencies. 32 at the time, Krieger was a currency trader working for Banker’s Trust. He analyzed that the New Zealand dollar, which is also known as the Kiwi, was ridiculously overvalued. Using financial trading instruments which were new at the time, he shorted his position against the Kiwi, which was worth millions of dollars. His short sell order exceeded the entire New Zealand supply at the time.

And just like he had anticipated, the Kiwi fluctuated between a 3 to 5% loss, which made his company $300 million. Krieger himself ended up making $3 million from the trade.

George Soros – The Man who Made $1 billion by Shorting the British Pound

george soros quote

Back in the 1990’s, when the British economy was doing very well, the legendary George Soros proceeded to short the pound, and he borrowed massive amounts to accomplish this harrowing feat. Soros shorted the pound when the currency was traded on a fixed rate of exchange.

After Soros made the bet, the government of Britain realized it could end up losing billions if they consistently and artificially piled up the pound. Soon after, they moved away from the European Rate Mechanism, which resulted in a massive plummet of the pound’s value. This made Soros $1 billion, giving him the status: brilliant billionaire investor.

So, what do you think now? Some of the major traders and investors of today have been inspired by these great men who took trading to an entirely new level.

Market Place

MKTPlace is a leading digital and social media platform for traders and investors. MKTPlace offers premiere resources for trading and investing education, digital resources for personal finance, news about IoT, AI, Blockchain, Business, market analysis and education resources and guides.