Stanley Druckenmiller is one of a few investors whose comments have the potential to move markets. He is also known for his flexible approach to markets and the ability to hold contradictory thoughts. For example over the past decade, he has been very critical about the Fed's policy, and the potential that it could lead to negative consequences. Yet in his portfolio, he has been long stocks and able to ride the market higher even though he doesn't think it will end well.
Some of his achievements include a nearly 30-year run with only one losing year. Being on the right side of some of the most historic trades including the devaluation of the British Pound and the 2008 crash. He also was infamously on the wrong side of big trades like the 1987 crash and the 2000 bubble in tech stocks but managed to escape with minimal damage.
Bio
Druckenmiller graduated from Bowdoin College as an Economics major. He dropped out of a Ph.D. program in Economics at the University of Michigan to be an equity analyst at Pittsburgh National Bank. Within a couple of years, he became the head of equity research. Due to his success in these roles, he was able to start his own hedge fund at the age of 28, Duquesne Capital Management.
His success at Duquesne attracted the attention of George Soros, and he was his primary fund manager from 1998 to 2000. At Soros in 1992, Druckenmiller and Soros were shorting the British pound heavily, betting that the country would have to pull out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, leading to a plunge in the currency. He proved correct, and the firm made over a $1 billion on the trade.
While at Soros, Druckenmiller continued running his own fund. His only down year was in 2010, and Duquesne Capital averaged 30% returns on an annual basis which is significantly higher than the S&P 500's 10% return over the same period.
Current Holdings
His investment philosophy mirrors that of a lot of macro managers who are large a long basket of stocks and short an equal amount of stocks to neutralize market exposure. On top of that, they will trade futures, currencies, and commodities with leverage to juice returns.
Some of his current, major holdings are Amazon
