(eToro Blog) As 2011 comes to a close, we decided to look at our top traders this year and how they have performed during the choppy last few months of this year.
Trader: waleed0987 is a favorite on OpenBook. He has grown in popularity since our last review of his trading style. He has grown from 174 copiers in October to 1933 copiers at the time of this writing. He has over 7000 followers as well, quite an impressive feat in a few short months. Reading through his trading feed, we see fair share of admirers and some critics. No one said being a top trader would be all praises. But our top traders like waleed0987 are skillful traders and know when to tune out their critics and focus on their trading.
We have liked the diversification in this trader’s portfolio which includes a mix of EURUSD, AUDUSD, GBPUSD and commodities such as Oil and Gold. The trader has an average gain of 7.7% on EURUSD and 5.4% on GBPUSD. The trader uses high risk in approximately 22% of his trades and medium risk on 64% of his trades. Despite using high risk strategies, the trader is very good at managing risk on his account and knows when to cut his losses. The trader has returned over 3300% in the last twelve months and has returned 28% in the month of December. The trader has closed 82% of his trades in a profit with an average hold time of 14 hours. The trader is a technical trader and is comfortable placing both buy and sell trades on the same pair in a given time frame.
Since we reviewed this trader in October, he has had a blockbuster run and has gained 600%. As the AUDUSD traded in a range between 1.0300 and 0.9700, the trader was able to take advantage of the move up and down since he looks for opportunities on both sides of the market. Looking at his trading history, the trader has managed to squeeze profits on both directions on multiple currency pairs despite the fundamental outlook of the currency pair. This is the reason trader: waleed0987is closing this trading year with 3300% returns. Looking at this trader’s P&L graph, we see that this trader’s returns have been on an uptrend for the last 6 months and he continues to make higher highs. This traders’ biggest drawdown in the last 3 months was in the beginning of December when the trader dropped to 150%. However the trader has skillfully reversed his losses using his strategy.
Trader NMarijus caught our attention early on because of his stellar performance and his number of copiers. At our last review of him, this trader had 601 copiers which has now grown to 2978 copiers! This trader also has close to 12,000 followers on OpenBook. We can say that trader: NMarijus has captivated the attention of traders on the OpenBook platform. The trader has continued to focus on the EURUSD pair which have given him an average gain of 2.4% on each trade.
The trader uses medium risk strategies on 100% of his trades and has not deviated from that. The trader has returned over 500% in the last twelve months in very choppy markets. The trader lost 26% in the month of December and has attracted criticism and praise from his numerous copiers and followers for his bullish EURUSD positions in the month of December. Overall the trader has 99% of his trades closed at a profit with an average hold time of 16.5 hours. We believe the trader is a long term trader because the trader holds on to his opinion despite short term moves in the market and even pressure from his legions of copiers and followers.
Since we reviewed this trader in October, the trader had amazing returns in the month of November. He doubled his account size in these two months and returned almost 100% in the two months. As the EURUSD continued to plunge from highs of 1.4250 towards 1.3000, this trader was bearish on the pair and gained on his trades. We see the trader shorting the pair all the way from 1.4000 to 1.3300 with no hesitation. However after December 12th, the trader became bullish on the EURUSD and starting taking long positions. The trader sees no fundamental reason for the EURUSD to keep declining and expects the EURUSD to make a comeback in 2012. Looking at this traders P&L graph we see that the traders returned are in a range between 35% and 45% in the month of December. If the trader is right on his bullish stance on the EURUSD, we can see the trader breaking this range and headed towards over 100% returns once again.
Trader: babczyk is another top trader who has skyrocketed in popularity this year. The trader has grown from 184 copiers to 1059 copiers, a remarkable achievement. The trader also has over 6000 followers on OpenBook. This trader primarily communicates in German in his trading feed but that has not stopped him from attracting copiers and followers. This is a testament to this trader’s performance. The trader has continued to primarily trade the EURUSD in 95% of his trading portfolio with an average gain of 4.2%.
The trader uses medium risk strategies in 60% of his trades and low risk in 40% of his trades. The trader has closed 99% of his trades at a profit with average hold time of 4.5 days. This trader likes to trade much longer time frames. The trader has returned 171% in the last six months and 33% in the last three months.
The trader is a fundamental trader and has been heavily short the EURUSD in the last couple of months. The trader shorted the EURUSD with sell orders from 1.3750 to 1.3050. Not a single buy order was placed on the EURUSD despite retracements in the pair. Looking at this trader’s P&L graph we see that the trader had his biggest drawdown in the last week of October. Looking at EURUSD graph in the same week, we see that the pair enjoyed a brief rally up to 1.4150 at that time. This tells us that trader: babczykgot caught off guard shorting the EURUSD and resulted in losses to his portfolio. After the EURUSD started dropping, this trader’s returns recovered from the drawdown and they are now in a range between 12% and 35%. If the EURUSD continues to slide in the first quarter of 2012, we can expect this trader’s P&L graph to continue in the range.
Trader: UKTradercaught our attention because of his heavy trading in GBPUSD which is known as a difficult pair to trade. The trader has not been able to achieve a surge in copiers and followers as his performance took a hit in the last three months. The trader lost 44.6% in the last three months since we reviewed him. While the past three months have been difficult for this trader and his copiers and followers, he is nonetheless closing 2011 with 217% in profit.
The trader has continued to allocate 35% of his portfolio to GBPUSD and another 35% to the EURUSD. This trader also trades EURCHF and USDCHF. The trader suffered an average loss of 1.8% on his GBPUSD trades and average loss of 2.1% on his EURUSD trades. Given that 62% of his portfolio was buy trades and the average hold time is 3 days, this trader is a fundamental long term trader.
Looking at this trader’s P&L graph we see his biggest drawdown when the GBPUSD plunged from 1.6550 towards 1.5400. This tells us that the trader was bullish on the GBPUSD. While the trader is a fundamental trader, he chose to ignore the negative news out of the U.K. economy and more so from the euro zone (Britain’s trading partners) and held on to his bullish view. Losses are part of trading and this trader was skillful at preserving his capital despite being caught on the wrong side of the market. We like the fact that this trader continued to use medium risk in his trades despite his losses and did not try to take unnecessary risks to get back his lost profits. After his drawdown in October, the trader P&L returns have continued to trade in a range between 10% and 25% return. Looking at recent history we see that the trader is now comfortably booking profits shorting the GBPUSD. We can expect great returns from this trader in the first quarter of 2012 if he continues to implement the lessons learnt in 2011.
Another top trader who has had a difficult end is trader: wizardale82. The trader gained some copiers and followers in the last few months but lagged behind other top traders. The trader lost 33% in the last three months and is ending the year down 31%. The trader took a huge hit on his Gold positions. With 27% of his portfolio allocated to Gold, the trader suffered an average loss of a whopping 23% on each Gold trade.
The trader also suffered losses on USDCHF positions with another staggering loss of 23% on each trade. The trader’s average hold time is 21 days which tells us that trader is bullish on Gold on a longer term basis. The trader has several open positions on Gold with buy prices from $1880 to $1640. The losses on these open positions are on average around 65%.
Since we last reviewed this trader, Gold prices have dropped from $1880 towards $1540 an ounce. With so many positions open on Gold at various prices, it looks like the trader continued to add to his loosing positions instead of cutting them. The lesson we learnt from his trader is that it is not a good idea to add to loosing positions and it is best to have stop levels in mind before entering a trade. Looking at this trader’s P&L graph, we see the trader returned between 0% and 50% in October and November. As gold prices plunged further in December, the support line was broken on December 13th and the P&L curve is on a downtrend. It has continued to make lower lows in December. We expect markets to be quite volatile in the first quarter of 2012 and trader: wizardale82should use more stringent risk management.
We reviewed top trader: heathrow666 because of his preference for trading gold. The trader is one of the few traders on OpenBookwho prefers trading Gold. This trader also had a dismal performance in the last three months and lost 28%. The trader lost some copiers since we last reviewed him. However the trader is closing 2011 with a 200% return.
The trader uses high risk in approximately 40% of his trades and medium risk in 47% of his trades. This high risk magnified his losses when he was going long on Gold as prices plunged. The trader places 97% of trades in the buy direction and hold trades for 24 hours on average.
In our previous review we noticed that this trader continued to buy gold during a drop in prices and this hurt the trader in the last three months. The trader had several long Gold positions with open prices from $1700 to $1600 which he closed in the month of December at huge losses. Looking at this trader’s P&L graph, we see that the worst drawdown was in November. The trader lost in November and December as Gold prices tumbled towards $1570. The trader has continued to trade in a negative territory for most of December loosing an average of 20% or breaking even. The lesson learnt from this top trader is that those looking to hold positions long term should use low risk to minimize draw downs.
We would like to wish all the very best for 2012 to the traders we have reviewed this year and all of our traders on OpenBook. We look forward to reviewing more gurus and top traders in the New Year.
Copyright 2011 eToro Blog
