Which country was the best trader in the 80-s

The answer to this question looks obvious. USA or UK. At least, Japan or Germany. The logic is as follows: the quality of the economic should determine the quality of trading. If you believe Bruce Kovner the situation is not so obvious.

Reference: Bruce Kovner was one of the world's largest traders in the FOREX and futures market. In 1987, he earned more than 300 million. And in the 80s XX he achieved the average annual total income - 87%. That means 2000 dollars, invested in the Kovner’s fund in the early 1978, 10 years later would have turned into a million.

In his interview with Jack Schwager (see details in the book "Market Wizards"), he called a rather unexpected candidate for the role of the most skillful trader in the world - the USSR. We quote Kovner:

"- The Soviet Union is a very good trader.
- In what markets?
- In the foreign exchange and, partially, in the commodities.
- But how can one learn about the actions of the Soviets?
- They operate through commercial banks and through dealers, and this is becoming known.
- But how can a country that runs its own economy so poorly, can be a good trader? In my opinion, one contradicts the other.
- Yes, but if you ask people from this business, then make sure that it is so.
- But why? Rather, how?
-Probably, they still read something from our post. Councils (as well as governments of other countries) from time to time receive the latest information. Why not? After all, they have the most extensive intelligence network in the world. In the intelligence community, it is well known that the Soviets (as well as the other states) are engaged in interception of information on commercial communication lines. Therefore, in the most confidential telephone conversations, large commodity trading firms sometimes use scramblers. "

As can be seen, information plays the key role in trading. Who owns the information, rules the world. It’s very important to monitor the actions of other market participants and adapt to them in time. The rule in trading, which Kovner formulated for himself from this story is the following: in case of a significant change in the fundamental background, the direction of the first movement of the market often serves as a good indicator of the long-term trend.