Do you know what it's like to lose $460 million on forex trading?

I am Asa, the founder of the Asa Forex community, and a veteran foreign exchange driver.

I think friends who have done trading know that it is normal to lose money in trading, and this is trading when there is profit and loss. But, do you know what it's like to lose $460 million on a trade? I repeat, it's a loss of $460 million

The trader I'm going to talk about next is the party involved. He has 15 years of working experience in the world's top investment banks such as Citigroup and HSBC. He was a professional foreign exchange and interest rate derivatives trader. His resume has made countless traders envious. But it all came to an abrupt end in 2009. ​

Alexis Stamfors, the former Merrill Lynch foreign exchange trader, not only fell from the peak of his career to the bottom, but was also dubbed the title of "rogue trader", which is still often mentioned today. .

In 2009, the global financial crisis had just ended. At that time, Stanford was still a foreign exchange trader of Merrill Lynch in London. He had accumulated 15 years of rich experience. At his peak, his annual income had exceeded one million U.S. dollars, and he was very confident in his trading.

After analyzing the economic and financial situation at that time, he believed that the entire financial system would eventually collapse, and made a big bet on this expectation. As a result, he failed, and he kept covering up his losses until Merrill Lynch discovered that his trading behavior had caused a loss of about $460 million.

Stamfors' life as a trader ended, his reputation was discredited, and he was banned from trading for five years. Fortunately, he was not sentenced to jail.

Why would he bet on the deal? Stanford wrote a book explaining it, titled "The Fear Barometer," in which he put his own experiences to the test. However, the book is more about the mistakes and flaws of the banking institution, and he still seems unable to have a clear understanding of his own mistakes.

In his view, the entire capital environment of the bank is very impetuous, and individuals begin to surpass the institution as a whole. Transactions are very personal. How much you think you deserve has nothing to do with the overall situation of the company. Everything becomes just how you feel. That's why he was so arrogant at the time.

In fact, looking at it now, there are indeed many flaws in the banking systems around the world. For example, the Bank of China crude oil treasure incident last year was a big flaw in the banking investment system. You should also be careful when investing in many bank investment projects. Don't think that the bank's projects must be all right, sometimes the trouble is even bigger.

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After the forced termination of his trading career, Stanford moved to academia, held relevant academic positions in many universities, and achieved good results.

Ironically, he now regularly lectures on financial markets, risk, compliance and ethics, and as a consultant provides security advice on legal matters in financial benchmarks, cash and derivatives markets. The former dragon has become a dragon slayer.

From a transactional security destroyer to a supervisor, this transformation made his life completely different. However, the impact of the transaction on him will definitely last a lifetime.