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[ucantseeme]

I'm new to FX but I keep hearing this George Soros bloke is the Warren Buffet of currency trading. Although I don't know much about him I do know that there are a few books written by/about him. With the available information has anyone tried to model his exact approach to currency trading.

I don't know if there are specifics on what he does exactly because I haven't read the books but I assume there is some details.

By modelling I mean trade how he trades, when he trades, etc.

If you wanted to be a better golfer you'd learn what Tiger Woods does when he plays so you can model his style and try to improve yours. So, if you wanted to be a better FX trader you would model what the supposedly best currency trader does.

Does anyone have thoughts on this?

[xtsunami]

I'm afraid your pockets are not deep enough to trade the way he trades....He has enough at his disposal to move markets. Do a study of GBP history....took the Brits to their knees.

[novice]

The pound, EMU and "breaking the bank of England" were just one instance.

The moving markets explanation of his success is a little thin.

In Market Wizards and New Market Wizards you can read about Jim Rogers and Stanley Druckenmiller (i.e. the managers of Soros's Quantum Fund). George Soros has written plenty of books about himself. All profess to be long-term traders that rely almost solely on fundamental analysis.

[novice]

Did he really move the GBP?

He just took a position that the currency peg of the GBP to the deutch mark was to high (based on FA). As such he took a short GBP position and a long deutch mark position.

A similar example today would be if you took a position that the chinese yuan is pegged too low to the USD (based on FA) and took a long yuan short USD position.

[Croesus]

I had readed some books of Soros, very interesting...
But the market's behavior that he describes isn't anymore the market's behavior of today...
He is one of the firsts (if not the first one) that disclosed the "self-fulfilling" nature of most analysis, for example.

Curiosity: Soros had gained $1Billion with the big famous speculation against the GBP, but time ago I've readed (sorry, I don't remember where) that he had lost some Billions afterward! Do someone know more?

[novice]

No the approach still works.

Soros came out in early 2003 saying he had bought EUR, AUD and CAD against the USD.

Rogers alos in early 2003 said he had bought EUR, JPY, CNY and Krona against the USD.

Both would have made a nice profit without have to move the markets at all.

[kvzambo]

George Soros is the name the public knows. Jim Rodger is the man who made Soros a name. Rodger is an old time, boots on the ground, fundimentalist trader who take long term (like years) positions and has the pockets deep enough to watch a position move against him before he is either proven right or re examines his fundimental postion. If you had followed Rogers statement early in 2000 that all commodities were due for a major rise, you would be having dinner with Soros and not reading about him.
Just my opinion.

[novice]

Yep Jim Rogers is exceptional. Investment Biker is one of my favourite books.

His website is very good also, jimrogers.com nice pieces on currencies and commodities in the articles section.

Rogers in noted for his distain of technical analysis. Soley uses fundamental analysis.

[Livermore]

Originally posted by kvzambo
George Soros is the name the public knows. Jim Rodger is the man who made Soros a name. Rodger is an old time, boots on the ground, fundimentalist trader who take long term (like years) positions and has the pockets deep enough to watch a position move against him before he is either proven right or re examines his fundimental postion. If you had followed Rogers statement early in 2000 that all commodities were due for a major rise, you would be having dinner with Soros and not reading about him.
Just my opinion.

Yeah, they are both fundamental long-term traders. Think about that. But George Soros is the best of the two old partners.
P.S. When did you had dinner with Soros?

[novice]

kvzambo welcome aboard moneytec.com it will be a pleasure having you around.

[Jeditrader]

George Soros is just one speculator worth looking at. If you are really interested in learning more about good, high profile traders, pick up Market Wizards and The New Market Wizards books. You can read about many very successful traders and possibly pick up some good tips. You will not, however, be able to learn enough, by reading those books, to emulate any top trader closely enough to duplicate his or her trading results. To get that good, you are really going to have to put forth a great deal of time in study and practice, just like they did. Trading success (like any true success) comes from hard work, not being a free loader.
Jedi

[Livermore]

Originally posted by Jeditrader
George Soros is just one speculator worth looking at. If you are really interested in learning more about good, high profile traders, pick up Market Wizards and The New Market Wizards books. You can read about many very successful traders and possibly pick up some good tips. You will not, however, be able to learn enough, by reading those books, to emulate any top trader closely enough to duplicate his or her trading results. To get that good, you are really going to have to put forth a great deal of time in study and practice, just like they did. Trading success (like any true success) comes from hard work, not being a free loader.
Jedi

Yes, the Wizard-books are vey good. You can also read books from the oldtimers: Livermore, Baruch...

[BadRuski]

I’ve read “Soros - The Unauthorized Biography” by Robert Slater. Interesting book indeed. According to it Soros started as a young and poor Hungarian émigré in London going from odd job to odd job. In 1949 he managed to enroll as a student at the London School of Economics, then worked as a trader at a London based firm (unsuccessfully) and later moved to New York.

Soros came up with a “theory of reflexivity” (as he calls it himself). Unlike those who assumed economic life to be rational and logical Soros agued that “not only do market participants operate with a bias, but their bias can also influence the course of events. This may create the impression that markets anticipate future developments accurately, but in fact it is not present expectations that correspond to future events but future events that are shaped by present expectations.“

Soros explains his theory in his own book “The Alchemy of Finance”, but I heard that his ideas are very vaguely presented that effectively makes them useless (smart ).

[Livermore]

Originally posted by BadRuski
I’ve read “Soros - The Unauthorized Biography” by Robert Slater. Interesting book indeed. According to it Soros started as a young and poor Hungarian émigré in London going from odd job to odd job. In 1949 he managed to enroll as a student at the London School of Economics, then worked as a trader at a London based firm (unsuccessfully) and later moved to New York.

Soros came up with a “theory of reflexivity” (as he calls it himself). Unlike those who assumed economic life to be rational and logical Soros agued that “not only do market participants operate with a bias, but their bias can also influence the course of events. This may create the impression that markets anticipate future developments accurately, but in fact it is not present expectations that correspond to future events but future events that are shaped by present expectations.“

Soros explains his theory in his own book “The Alchemy of Finance”, but I heard that his ideas are very vaguely presented that effectively makes them useless (smart ).

No, they are not useless. In the book you follow his trades - losers and winners - in a whole year. Very usefull.

[Croesus]

“The Alchemy of Finance” is one of the books of Soros I had readed long time ago, if I could remember well Soros himself tell somewhere in the book that the markets he describes are OLD markets and the it's behavior is changed through the time, most of his strategy are not feasible anymore... but I don't remember very well... sorry!