An insight into the most successful forex traders

Trading in the foreign exchange (forex) market can lead to potential returns on your investments. The market is highly volatile and thus, prices are highly susceptible to change. You can therefore aim to capitalise on the price swings of currencies, in an attempt to make gains on your investment. 

Although fluctuations in prices can pose as opportunities to profit, there’s also significant risk of making losses and as a result, successful trading takes extensive research and skill. 

There is no ‘one size fits all’ strategy and therefore, it’s up to you to figure out which one suits best your lifestyle and trading approach. One of the best ways to figure out your trading style is to open a demo account on an online trading platform before you open a position in the market.  

You could also start forex trading on Skilling, for example — an online trading platform that will enable you to speculate on the price movements of some of the most popular currency pairs, without owning the underlying asset, through contracts for difference (CFDs).

Another approach is to take inspiration from successful traders in history. The best forex traders in the market have experience, acting decisively and instinctively. They employ strategies that suits their trading style and helps them to work towards their financial goals. 

Read on to find out more about some of the top forex traders. 

Andy Krieger

One of the most successful forex traders to ever grace the market is Andy Krieger. Krieger’s main investment focus was the New Zealand dollar (NZD). During periods of high disruption in the market, traders would short-sell the NZD and Krieger would capitalise on this. 

Krieger also relied highly on leverage to open extremely large positions in the forex market. Using leverage, you can pay just a small portion of the total value of the trade and borrow the remaining capital from an investment broker. 

Kreiger took this to the extreme and applied a 400:1 leverage rate to his trade. Of course, the greater the exposure in the market, the greater the level of risk that you’re exposed to, but in this case, the risk paid off and Krieger made a net profit of $300 million.

Although risky, Krieger’s confidence was inspired by his thorough assessment of the market and use of fundamental analysis, affording him the ability to realise that the currency was overvalued. 

We don’t recommend that you adopt the same approach — with regards to gaining so much exposure in the market — but you could also utilise leverage and trend indicators when investing. 

This will enable you to gain greater exposure and identify patterns in the market, so that you can accurately pinpoint the best points to enter and exit your position. 

George Soros

You may have heard people refer to George Soros as the man who broke the Bank of England — the forex trader gained this reputation when he made an incredibly successful trade in 1992. In this trade, Soros sold around $10 billion worth of pound sterling (GBP) and managed to make a net profit of $1 billion!

The trade took place on the 16th September 1992 and caused the forex market to go dark, to such an extent that this date is now referred to as Black Wednesday. The trade was so colossal that it forced the UK to withdraw currency from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, unable to deal with the effects of Soros’ trade. 

But what was Soros’ strategy? 

Soros applied a system of short-term speculation to the market, attempting to make large, well-informed predictions about which direction the forex market would take in the future. Following this, he would bet on whichever of the predicted outcomes that he believed was most likely to come to fruition. He named his approach ‘reflexivity’. 

There is so much that we can learn about forex trading from those traders who have experienced immense success in the market. Of course, there are also so many online resources that you can find online to help you to learn how to trade. Once you feel confident enough, you could open a position in some of the most actively traded currency pairs in the world on an online trading platform.