It is difficult to make a job out of forex trading. However, there are several traders in the world who trade full time.
In this article that we will expand over time, we have included the best forex traders who have won competitions such as the World Cup Trading Championship, or have proven to have excellent trading skills and knowledge.
List of the best full-time forex traders in the world
Here is a look at who we have selected as some of the best full-time forex traders in the world.
1. Andrea Unger: A 4-time world trading champion
Andrea Unger is considered one of the best forex traders of all time. He is an Italian trader of German origin (born in Germany in 1966) who managed to win the World Championship of Trading four times (2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012). A great advocate of systematic trading and trading algorithms, over time he has developed his own strategy that he teaches at the Unger Academy which he founded. He also has a YouTube channel where he gives trading tips.
| Nationality | Social Networks | Favourite Broker | Markets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italian | Linkedin, YouTube | Interactive Brokers | Forex & Futures |
2. Kurt Sakaeda: Another 4-time world champion
Kurt Sakaeda is a trader born in the United States, a great friend of Andrea Unger, with whom he shares the record of 4 times world champion of trading. The peculiarity of Kurt Sakaeda, is that he won them on 3 different markets, namely forex, stocks and futures, with profits on trading that in 2004 exceeded 900%. An advocate of trading on seasonal and statistical patterns, to this day he participates in webinars and interviews.
| Nationality | Social Networks | Favourite Broker | Markets |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | N/A | N/A | Forex, Futures & Stocks |
3. Sergey Shirko: The ForexCup founder
Born in Latvia, Sergey Shirko is a forex trader who loves volatile markets. He also describes himself as a momentum trader and typically can hold his positions for up to 5 days. Shirko placed 3rd in the 2020 Trading World Cup and 4th in 2021. He is also the founder of the ForexCup event. Known as a manual trader, he never uses any algorithms to trade and focuses on analyzing the open interest and futures markets to make decisions.
4. Raul Andreas Glavan: One of the best German traders
Raul Glavan is a German forex trader who was crowned trading world champion in 2020. Glavan is an EAs oriented trader who was described by WirtschaftsWoche magazine as one of the most successful traders in Germany. He is an influential figure in the algo-trading community with more than 30,000 followers across his various social media platforms. He was also one of the most successful signal providers on wikifolio.com back in 2013.
| Nationality | Social Networks | Favourite Broker | Markets |
|---|---|---|---|
| German | N/A | Forex |
5. Emirhan Gören: ForexCup 2021 world champion
Emirhan Gören is a self-taught trader from Turkey. He became the 2021 ForexCup world champion with profits over 230%. Gören trades forex but does not have a specific market preference, trading instead based on good opportunities. He has a mostly manual trading strategy focusing on technical analysis, and markets’ psychological analysis. Before opening a position he evaluates the overall indices and studies the economic calendar.
| Nationality | Social Networks | Favourite Broker | Markets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkish | N/A | Forex, Futures & Stocks |
6. Nikolas Lippmann Pareschi: The 2017 world champion
Nikolas Lippmann Pareschi is a Brazilian forex and stock trader with over 35,000 hours of trading experience. He holds a Masters of Science in Financial Engineering from World Quant University and is the 2017 World Forex Trading champion. He also placed 3rd in the Stock Trading World Championship. He is also an instructor at Investidor de Sucesso, a very popular Brazilian website focused on algo trading which is an area he specializes in.
| Nationality | Social Networks | Favourite Broker | Markets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazilian | N/A | Forex |
7. Tim Rea: A world champion multi-strategy trader
Tim Rea is a US trader who focuses on multiple markets including forex, commodities, and futures. A day trader, Rea is also a 2011 world champion. Throughout his trading career, he has developed many trading strategies that he still uses today and is a big advocate of algorithmic trading. To date, he runs over 100 different automated strategies active in more than 20 markets earning his multi-strategy reputation.
| Nationality | Social Networks | Favourite Broker | Markets |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | N/A | N/A | Forex, commodities, futures |
Books suggested by Professional Traders
Here are some of the best books you can pick up, written by the professional traders mentioned.
| Title | Author | Suggested by | Language |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trattato di Money Management: La gestione professionale del rischio (2013) | Andrea Unger | Andrea Unger | IT |
| The Successful Trader’s Guide to Money Management (2021) | Andrea Unger | Andrea Unger | EN |
| Long-Term Secrets to Short-Term Trading (1999) | Larry Williams | Andrea Unger | EN |
| Introduction to Algo Trading (2018) | Kevin Davey | Andrea Unger | EN |
| Winning Algorithmic Trading Systems (2014) | Kevin Davey | Andrea Unger | EN |
| Trading Systems and Methods (2013) | Perry Kaufman | Andrea Unger | EN |
| Trading Systems That Work (2000) | Thomas Stridsman | Andrea Unger | EN |
| Trading Systems and Money Management (2003) | Thomas Stridsman | Andrea Unger | EN |
| Trading and Exchanges: Market Microstructure for Practitioners (2002) | Larry Harris | Sergey Shirko | EN |
Brokers suggested by Professional Traders
Although no trader directly suggests which broker to use, many mainly choose forex brokers that offer special services for professional traders.
Trading accounts for professionals typically offer spread and commission discounts, market analysis services, direct contact with platform analysts, exclusive assets, and more.
In addition to this, especially traders who have won global awards and contests choose brokers for automated trading in order to create and implement algorithmic trading strategies.