Human civilization would’ve never reached such heights if it weren’t for the human race’s unique ability to communicate with each other. Trading allowed humans to survive in different places around the world for thousands of years. Trading evolved as we continued to grow, reaching new heights that made it grow from merely being a means of survival to become a concrete part of the foundation of our modern society.
Bartering, the initial trading method used, was simple and intuitive. It took a lot of time for the concept of currency to be introduced to people, but once it became the staple of the market, the rapid development of different trading forms took place. Loans and investments became a very strong dynamic in the trading market. People who have no securable assets can now use the services of unsecured lending providers to acquire capital and pursue investments. Trading is becoming more accessible to people over time, thanks to the evolving nature of the market. There is more than one way to look at the evolution of investing and trading, but a brief overview of the most influential people in the trading industry should be more than enough for us to form a proper picture.
Ben Graham (1894-1976)
The CV of the British economist and professor is too large to be mentioned in detail here, but we’ll focus on why he’s called the “father of value investing”. Value investing is a strategy that favors stocks or assets that appear to be not doing well or underpriced, based on how vulnerable the market is in reacting to bad and good changes. Even the most successful traders of today, like Warren Buffet, have sworn by Ben Graham’s theories and techniques. The Benjamin method became a staple in most investors’ plans, as it’s more of a basic philosophy than a technique. Graham is considered a revolutionizing figure in the world of trading, with a huge portfolio of books, theories, and numerous successful investments.
Warren Buffet (1930-Current)
With a net worth over $88 billion, Warren Buffet is the 4th wealthiest individual in the world. From a historical standpoint, Buffet is the most successful equity investor that has ever lived. His first million was through a hedge fund that he established himself, but it didn’t take long for Buffet to start thinking big. His next investment put him on the path of glory, the Berkshire Hathaway, which was originally a textile company was later diversified by him to a great magnitude. His influence is very apparent in politics; the Buffet Rule is one that he proposed because of how unfair he viewed the tax system. He wanted millionaires to be taxed at least 30% of their post-charitable-contribution income. He also proposed official legislation to the Congress, but it was rejected multiple times.
Peter Lynch (1944-Current)
Peter Lynch’s influence can be tracked down to multiple elements; his books were highly regarded by multiple successful investors and critics. His trading techniques mainly revolved around picking the underdogs of stocks. Stocks that are so unlikely to be picked by most investors were sometimes a golden ticket to success in the eyes of Lynch. His unorthodox approach was like a direct rejection of the index’s numbers. For over 10 years, his out of the box approach proved to be more valuable than just accepting indicators and numbers.
Jesse Livermore (1877-1940)
Jesse Livermore never claimed to be an investor, and it seems that trading was an exciting activity that he enjoyed doing more than anything. Back then, there were no computers or simulations, so he mainly relied on common price and volume stock analysis. He is one of the most influential traders that the market has ever known and was the inspiration for the main character of a best-selling book. His technique was quite orthodox, yet very different at the same time. He relied on pivotal points that showed him the position of stock that the market favors.
John Templeton (1912-2008)
John Templeton was a British-American investor who is credited to be one of the main drivers behind the growth of emerging markets in India and China. He firmly believed that the emerging markets were a great investment opportunity because they are able to sustain growth for a longer time, compared to their developed counterparts. His vision turned out to be right and his fund was seeing unprecedented growth. His influence can be seen clearly if you look at how he persuaded many fund managers to start investing in emerging markets as a way to diversify their portfolio to reduce risk.
It’s easy for us to look at those influential figures in the trading industry and think that we’ll never be that successful. But once you start looking into their backgrounds, you’ll find that they experienced a lot of struggles, failures, and turmoil before achieving their success. There is no better time to start getting into trading than now; each second counts when you’re in the trading world, no matter how pessimistic or cynical you are about it.
