In the male-dominated trading industry, women are often overlooked and ignored. Here we've listed 5 of the most successful female traders who broke such stereotype.
Most people would imagine the trading industry as a male-dominated playing field. Indeed, the financial market was used to be mostly made up of men. But many things have changed now. The traditional over-the-phone trading had been replaced by online electronic trading, whose rapid growth has paved the way for a new group of traders to enter the market.
The development of the online trading industry has opened its doors to those who do not fit the traditional stereotype, such as women, young adults, and people from countries without major financial centers.
Although it is evident that men are still dominating the arena, over the last few years, there has been a significant increase in female traders with some of them steadily climbing their way up to the top and make great achievements with their trades. In fact, statistics show that two in five women consider themselves experts in the industry. This shows that not only do female traders are breaking into the market, but they also have what it takes to outperform their male rivals in the long term.
Contents
What's Great about Female Traders?
Female traders were used to be seen as less skilled because the industry is dominated by men. The truth is, women actually have huge potential to be great traders. They tend to have the mind and psychology of a successful trader. They basically have the "recipe" needed to make better decisions and react to the market more positively as they incline to not be heavily influenced by their emotions.
Typically, most male traders would tend to overtrade or trade in revenge after getting a series of losing streaks. In contrast, women tend to have more control over their emotional aspects, so they can think more logically and take responsible actions. There is evidence to suggest that women tend to use a more cautious approach while trading, which can deliver better results. This allows them to step back, analyze what went wrong, and then think about what move they should do next to fix the problem.
Also, they're more likely to be consistent with their systems or plans so they're not easily derailed by losses. Think about it, there must be a reason why baking is often said to be a woman's domain. It's simply because it requires a baker to follow the recipe down to the last point and grams. Meanwhile, most men tend to just wing it and think spontaneously. If we take it to the trading context, male traders often change their minds and make emotional decisions while trading. As a result, they are more likely to ignore their initial trading plan and end up losing money.
However, keep in mind that these characteristics are not always accurate for all traders. There are loads of successful male as well as female traders out there. The point is that trading is not exclusive to men only, but it's open to anyone who has the passion, the commitment, and the patience for it. As women also have the potentials to be successful in trading, they should get the same opportunity in the industry and should be treated fairly.
Although being a trader is not exactly an obvious career choice for women yet, there are plenty of female traders who have excelled at their jobs over the decades. Here, we're going to introduce you to the 5 most successful female traders in the modern trading era.
1. Raghee Horner
Raghee Horner is one of the most popular female traders who is an expert in forex, futures, and currency ETFs. She is currently working for Simpler Futures at simplertrading.com. Her deep understanding of the markets has helped a lot of people to improve their trading skills. She is known to be able to break down the noise of the markets and turn it into realistic, consistent, and profitable trading strategies.
Raghee has started trading since high school, first by drawing charts by hand, and then calculating all the indicators by herself. Having been a trader for around 30 years, Raghee is fluent in all market classes and is widely known for having built her "any market, any time frame" indicators. In fact, she is the creator of the famous 34-EMA wave method. You can find a few applications of this method in various studies at Forex Factory. With her passion and dedication, technical skills, and excellent analyses, Raghee has managed to become one of the best female traders out there.
2. Kathy Lien
Kathy Lien is an extraordinary trader with talent in forex trading. After graduating from a New York reputed university Stern School of Business at the age of 18, she began working at Wall Street. She was initially employed by JPMorgan Chase. Her passion was in the interbank FX trading desk, so she made her moves in the foreign exchange market, then later in the cross markets in the proprietary trading group, where she tried many trading instruments such as options, FX spot, derivatives, bonds, etc.
In 2003, Kathy joined FXCM, paving her way up and successfully launched a free research portal the DailyFX. The website has gained a lot of attention and is now considered one of the most popular sources for financial news and analyses. Later in 2008, she moved to Global Futures & Forex Ltd, providing research and analyses to clients and managing a global foreign exchange analysis team as the Director of Currency Research. She's also known as the co-founder of bkforex.com and the managing director of FX management for BK Asset management.
With over 20 years of trading experience, Kathy's often cited in various media platforms including Bloomberg, Sidney Morning Herald, The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Associated Press, UK Telegraph, and many more. She's a famous writer herself as she has published several international best-selling books including "Day Trading and Swing Trading in the Currency Market" and "The Little Book of Currency Trading and Millionaire Traders: How Everyday People Beat Wall Street at its Own Game". She also writes for online platforms such as Investopedia and her own websites.
See also: Free Trading E-books Collection
3. Jennifer Fan
Another famous female trader that we're going to talk about is Jennifer Fan, who graduated from business school with degrees in Finance, Statistics, and Operation Research at the age of 19. Jennifer is a hedge fund manager specializing in finding relative value in energy and agriculture markets. She started her career at Morgan Stanley and later became a partner and portfolio manager at Arrowhawk Capital Management, where she worked for over 10 years.
In 2012, she was included in the Forbes list of 30 Under 30: Finance. Later on, she managed to launch her very own $650 million hedge fund called Arbalet Capital. Then in 2014, she started to work at the New York-based Millenium Management after Arbalet Capital was closed in 2013. Millennium is a global investment management firm with about $40 billion under its management. Now she's currently working as a CEO for a private firm Family Office.
4. Lauren Simmons
Lauren Simmons is another phenomenal female trader who went viral in 2017. She broke records and made history as the youngest full-time female trader on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at just 23 years old and also the second black woman to become an equity trader in the NYSE. After graduating with a degree in genetics, she switched careers to finance and trading stocks for Rosenblatt Securities. Being the only woman to work there at that time surely was not easy for Lauren, but she has proven that any woman can break into a male-dominated industry and achieve great things too.
5. Linda Bradford Raschke
Linda Bradford Raschke is a prominent commodity and futures trader who began trading professionally in the early 1980s. She is known for her ability to act on trading patterns while maintaining consistency and longevity. She started her career as a market maker in stock options at the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange. She then moved to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange for a total of 6 years before finally working for herself as a day trader.
In 2002, Linda released her own hedge fund but also continued to trade for her personal account. She also has published a popular book called "Trading Sardines and Street Smarts: High Probability Trading Strategies for the Futures and Equities Markets", which she wrote with Laurence A. Connors, the CEO of TradingMarkets. She's now the president of LBR Group as a commodity trading advisor and the commodity pool operator for LBR Asset Management with both companies bearing her name initials.
Final Thoughts
The stories of successful female traders have proven that the trading industry is no longer a place exclusive to men. As online trading continues to develop, more female traders are breaking the barrier and taking their part in the trading community. Although trading is still quite a risky investment, these women have shown that attaining success is possible regardless of gender.
At the end of the day, no matter what your gender is, there's a ton of inspiration from professional traders that you can search on the internet. Remember that in the modern trading world, your career depends on your ability to analyze and manage your trades instead of your gender or background, so it's better to focus on your goals and start your trading journey with the right mindset.