Who are the top hedge fund managers in the world? Names like Soros, Simons, Druckenmiller, Paulson, Tepper, Dalio, Robertson and Kovner top the list. As a group they have probably pulled in excess of a hundred billion dollars out of the markets.
So where do we begin?
Let’s start with Paulson. In 2010 he received $5 billion in total compensation. Which the WSJ says is the biggest one year haul ever.
Paulson runs the Advantage Plus and a number of other funds through his hedge fund firm. He started out in risk arbitrage and corporate event investing. Then he branched out into other areas, including his now famous move in the subprime area.
Soros
George Soros is probably the most famous hedge fund manager of all time. He has made billions of dollars and probably has one of the best and longest track records of all the managers out there. In its first two decades, Soros and partner Rogers generated returns in excess of 30% annually, which absolutely destroyed the performance of the S&P 500. Soros also hired Druckenmiller, who eventually turned out to be a great hedge fund manager in his own right.
Druckenmiller
I’ve heard some one say that Druckenmiller combined the analytical abilities of Rogers, the trading skill of Soros and the stomach of a riverboat gambler. Druckenmiller generated amazingly good returns but recently shut down his fund after making so much money that he decided that the pursuit was not longer worth the impact on his quality of life.
Simons
James Simons is probably the idol of math geeks everywhere. He was formerly a math professor, who used his mathematical abilities to start Renaissance Technologies and build trading models that are extremely profitable. His trading was so profitable that he ended up returning all outside investor money and so that he could only trade the money of his firm.
Tepper
David Tepper is known for focusing on distressed securities. He buys stocks and bonds when everyone wants to sell them because they look like they are in horrible shape. A recent example of this is when he bought a large chunk of BofA when it seemed that the world was headed to a financial abyss.
Dalio
Ray Dalio runs the largest fund in the world, the Bridgewater Hedge Fund. It is focused on global macro. Dalio says that his funds performance is driven by a deep, intrinsic understanding of economics. His firm was prescient for anticipating the economic collapse of 2008.
A Top Hedge Fund Manager’s New Trade of the Century
You might think that if you missed shorting the sub-prime bubble, you missed out on the trade of the century. Granted, it was a spectacular trade that cost very little to put on because almost everyone thought that the bonds where triple A, and it paid off huge.
But one top hedge fund manager thinks that there is another trade that rivals shorting sub-prime.
And why should we listen to him?
Well, he is one of the fund managers who predicted the sub-prime debacle and profited mightily from its collapse.
In fact, he says that “all of the asymmetry in the world lies in [this trade].”
To find out what this massively convex trade is, enter your email in the form below.