Steve Cohen, the billionaire trader once known as the “hedge fund king” of Wall Street, built his immense $17.5 billion fortune through high-risk strategies and instinctive bets in the stock market. A new report from Traders Union provides insight into how the legendary investor achieved his massive success – as well as the missteps that nearly brought his empire crashing down.
Early life and career
Cohen’s story begins humbly enough in middle-class Great Neck, New York, where he grew up the son of a piano teacher and clothing manufacturer. He displayed an early penchant for risk-taking by playing poker with his allowance money in high school. This daring strategy foreshadowed the aggressive approach Cohen would later take in the financial markets.
According to the report, after graduating from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1978, Cohen got his first job as a junior trader in the options arbitrage division at Gruntal & Co. on Wall Street. On his very first day, the rookie trader made $8,000 in profits for the firm – the beginning of his swift ascent up the ranks. Within years, the trading prodigy was managing his own portfolio valued at $75 million.
The published review noted that In 1992, at just 35 years old, Cohen branched out on his own – founding hedge fund powerhouse SAC Capital Advisors with $20 million of his personal funds. He developed a reputation for taking big, concentrated bets on stocks following intensive research. According to former employees, no detail was too minor for Cohen, who would even inquire about daily sales figures from retail store managers as part of his diligence.
High-risk trading strategies
“When it comes to trading tales, you should not waste any time before reading about Steven Cohen, a daring trader who dared the Forex market,” TU experts advised.
These high-conviction trades allowed Cohen to produce enormous profits – including gaining 70% in 1999’s tech bubble and another 70% shorting tech stocks when the dot-com sector imploded in 2000. In its early decades, SAC delivered market-beating annual returns averaging 30% to investors and grew into a $16 billion titan managing outside capital alongside Cohen’s personal billions.
So what was the secret sauce behind Cohen’s meteoric success? The Steve Cohen trading strategy is a unique one. According to the TU report, Cohen utilized a strategy combining rigorous research with swift execution to exploit small pricing discrepancies in stocks.
TU analysts noted, “Steven Cohen used high-risk, high-reward trading strategies as part of his short-term trading strategy, which combined fundamental and quantitative analysis.”
These massive, lightning-fast trades allowed Cohen to profit from minute changes in stock prices. At times, he would acquire hundreds of millions of dollars of a company’s shares within days of initiating a position. Critics argued it was a form of market manipulation – but no one could argue with the results for SAC.
Downfall of SAC capital
The expert report noted that Cohen occasionally veered from his disciplined strategy into dubious situations that ultimately proved his undoing. In November 2012, federal authorities brought insider trading charges against a former SAC manager related to pharmaceutical stocks.
Although Cohen himself avoided criminal indictment, his firm pleaded guilty in the ensuing investigation, agreeing to pay record penalties of $1.8 billion. In 2014, Cohen was barred from handling outside money – effectively shutting down SAC Capital despite his fortune remaining intact at around $11 billion.
Relaunch and recent developments
According to TU experts, even exiled from Wall Street, the trading phenom couldn’t stay away for long – launching private investment firm Point72 Asset Management in 2018 to manage his wealth after the ban expired. The company name refers to the address of Cohen’s Greenwich mansion – 72 Cummings Point Road.
In 2020, Cohen made headlines again with a landmark $2.4 billion purchase of baseball’s New York Mets – the highest amount ever paid for a North American sports team. However, controversy continues to hound the billionaire. Not long ago, a new lawsuit accused Cohen of covering up sexual harassment at Point72 – allegations the firm strongly denies.
Now nearing 70 years old, the great trader has changed his approach in recent years according to industry whispers. Insiders say Cohen has delegated more investing responsibility and reduced risk levels compared to his past exploits. But one thing hasn’t changed – Cohen’s bottomless appetite for the endless intricacies and ups and downs of Wall Street.
In addition to reviewing how Steve Cohen built his fortune, the analysts went ahead to review Evolve Markets.
Review of Evolve Markets
Evolve Markets, a cryptocurrency and trading broker founded in 2016, received a moderate risk rating of 5.5 out of 10 in the analysis published by the Traders Union experts. The analysis highlighted several benefits of using Evolve Markets but also raised some areas of concern based on client reviews.
On the positive side, Evolve Markets offers trading on over 100 assets including cryptocurrencies, and provides high leverage up to 1000x for forex trading. The broker also has no minimum deposit requirement and does not charge withdrawal fees.
The Packagelab published an Evolve Markets review, based on TU’s thoughts. As mentioned by packageslab, “Trading fees at Evolve Markets are competitive. This is crucial for profit-maximizing traders. Low fees appeal to high-frequency traders.”
However, the analysis noted that Evolve Markets only allows cryptocurrency-denominated accounts, which carries additional risk due to price fluctuations. An exception is accounts denominated in stablecoins like USDT and USDC. The review also cited complaints from some Evolve Markets clients on the TU website related to poor customer service and withdrawal delays, indicating mixed experiences overall.
“Having reviewed trading opportunities offered by the company and reviews posted by Evolve Markets clients on TU website, expert Anton Kharitonov recommends users to thoroughly analyze pros and cons before opening an account with this broker,” Traders Union announces.
On fees, the TU experts found that Evolve Markets charges a $10 per lot spread for forex trades as well as a 0.0035% additional fee, which was called “high” compared to competitor brokers like RoboForex and IC Markets. Evolve Markets is regulated under the MWALI International Services Authority and received an overall rank of 78 out of 383 brokers rated in the TU assessment.
Conclusion
The two analytical reports from TU experts showcase the organization’s scrutiny of brokers, hedge funds, and other players in global financial markets. With Cohen back investing his billions and Evolve Markets offering a platform for retail cryptocurrency traders, both entities can expect continued attention from the TU in the years ahead.
About the author
The article was written by Peter Emmanuel Chijioke, an experienced analyst at Traders Union.
