Steve Cohen

Current Company

Point72 Asset Management — Founder & CEO

The Most Feared Trader on Wall Street

Steve Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors was known in the hedge fund world as a relentless, high-frequency trading machine that generated average annual returns of roughly 30% over two decades — a record that made it the most sought-after fund on Wall Street and Cohen the most feared trader in the industry. SAC's strategy relied on what Cohen called 'edge' — any informational or analytical advantage that could produce alpha. The firm employed hundreds of portfolio managers and analysts, each running their own book, with Cohen overseeing the operation and taking concentrated positions when he had the highest conviction.

The culture at SAC was legendarily intense. Portfolio managers were expected to produce returns or be fired. Information was the firm's currency, and the pressure to find it was immense. This culture produced extraordinary profits but also created the conditions for the insider trading scandal that would ultimately bring the firm down. In 2013, SAC pleaded guilty to securities fraud and paid $1.8 billion in fines — the largest insider trading penalty in history — though Cohen himself was never criminally charged.

Rebuilding an Empire from Reputational Ruins

Most financiers would have disappeared after their firm pleaded guilty to criminal charges and they were banned from managing outside money. Cohen took a different approach: he converted SAC into a family office called Point72, continued trading with his own approximately $9 billion fortune, and waited out his two-year industry ban. When he reopened to outside investors in 2018, capital flooded in. Within three years, Point72 was managing over $22 billion and had grown to become one of the largest hedge funds in the world — a comeback that said as much about Wall Street's tolerance for performance as it did about Cohen's trading ability.

Cohen's purchase of the New York Mets in 2020 for $2.4 billion marked his emergence as a public figure beyond finance. He immediately increased the team's payroll, invested in facilities, and signaled that he would run the franchise with the same intensity he brought to trading. The Mets acquisition served a dual purpose: it gave Cohen the mainstream visibility that hedge fund managers rarely achieve and helped rehabilitate a reputation that the insider trading scandal had damaged. Whether as trader or team owner, Cohen's career illustrates a consistent principle: in American business, sustained performance eventually overrides almost any controversy.