Bruce Kovner
Bruce Kovner is an accomplished trader who has earned more than $2.5 billion by trading the foreign exchange market and futures.
Yes, Bruce Kovner became a living example of successful traders who conquered not only the stock exchange, but also the Forex market.
The most interesting thing is that he was not a specialist in economics and moved to stock trading from a completely different profession, or more precisely from the position of a teacher.
The desire for self-realization and a lot of work made Bruce what he is now, and his story of success and the hard path of self-improvement has become an excellent example for novice traders.
Bruce was born in New York in 1945. Kovner has Russian roots, since his grandfather could have been arrested for political views, the family had to flee to the United States.
Bruce Kovner was an obedient and intelligent boy, earning numerous awards for his academic performance at school, and at the age of sixteen, he was made president of his school. Naturally, for his academic efforts and success, Bruce Kovner received a scholarship to Harvard University to study political science.
Since Bruce came under the wing of renowned scientist Edward Banfield, he was predicted to have a bright future in science. However, tragedy struck the family: his mother committed suicide. Unable to bear the loss, Bruce dropped out of Harvard and spent time with his grieving father.
Having suffered the loss, he returned to school, and because he had been a good student, he was quickly reinstated and allowed to continue his studies. However, this loss deeply affected the young man, and he was never able to complete his doctoral dissertation.
In fact, Bruce Kovner himself stated in his interviews that he did not really like the scientific environment, so he did not pursue an academic degree.
After graduating from Harvard, he taught political science for a long time at the same university, then transferred to Pennsylvania, where he continued teaching his subject. Bruce saw no future in teaching, so he tried to enter the political arena. Specifically, in the late 1970s, as a political scientist, he helped manage several candidates' elections, and he also planned to become a politician himself.
However, the lack of money for political advertising and the ability to conduct a full-fledged election campaign scared off the aspiring politician.
Getting to Know the Stock Exchange: Career Ladder
As a political scientist, Bruce Kovner understood perfectly well that politics directly impacts stocks, but he didn't fully understand how this happened. With a strong background in political science, he decided to try his hand at stock trading.
However, Bruce didn't rush straight to a broker; he began the arduous journey of self-education. While analyzing interest rates and potential returns, Bruce noticed an interesting pattern: the possibility of making money on spreads. The method is quite simple: two interest rate futures are selected and a trade is opened based on their correlation hedged position.
As a profit, the trader receives interest for holding positions in the form of an interest rate.
After testing his strategy, Bruce Kovner takes out a $3,000 loan from the bank and tries to implement his strategy.
In a relatively short period of time, Bruce trades around 40 thousand dollars from three thousand, constantly reinvesting his profits. However, having deviated from the broker's recommendation, he literally loses 20 thousand dollars overnight.
Having gained his first experience, Bruce got a job as a trader at the Commodities Corporation, and he himself became its leader Michael MarcusHaving received a good education from a renowned mentor, Bruce founded his own company, Caxton, in 1983, which continues to operate successfully today. Bruce Kovner's net worth is estimated at over $2.5 billion.
