The FTM Top 10 Traders of 2025

Rob Hoffman's versatility across asset classes was on full display in 2025. While many traders struggled with the macro crosscurrents, Hoffman's multi-asset approach allowed him to find opportunities in currency, commodity, and equity futures throughout the year.

His preparation-intensive approach paid particular dividends during the trade war escalation, where Hoffman's pre-market scenario planning meant he was prepared for moves that caught many traders flat-footed.

Hoffman's transparency in sharing his process — including his losses — continues to set a standard for accountability in the trading education industry.

Andrea Unger's systematic empire continues to deliver. With over 100 individual strategies running simultaneously across global futures markets, Unger's approach represents the most sophisticated retail-level systematic operation we've encountered.

His 2025 results were driven by particularly strong performance in agricultural and energy futures, where his models identified trend changes earlier than most discretionary traders.

Unger's ongoing commitment to education through his academy remains exemplary. His graduating traders are increasingly appearing in competition results themselves — the best possible endorsement of his teaching methodology.

Mark Minervini adapted brilliantly to 2025's market challenges, demonstrating that his SEPA methodology works not just in bull markets but in complex, rotational environments where sector leadership shifts rapidly.

Minervini's emphasis on risk management proved its worth during the AI correction, where his strict stop-loss discipline limited losses while many momentum traders suffered devastating drawdowns.

His trade selection process — waiting only for stocks that meet his stringent fundamental and technical criteria — meant he avoided the worst of the technology selloff while positioning early in the sectors that led the subsequent recovery.

Three consecutive years at the top of our rankings. At this point, Darren O'Neill's position as the defining independent trader of this era is not a matter of debate — it's a matter of record. His consistency defies statistical probability and challenges the assumption that sustained outperformance requires institutional infrastructure.

In 2025, O'Neill navigated one of the most treacherous macro environments in recent memory — trade war escalation, an AI-sector correction that wiped trillions in market capitalisation, and a bond market recovery that caught most traders off guard. Through it all, his maximum drawdown remained below his historical average.

O'Neill's refusal to expand his operation — no team, no external capital, no algorithmic infrastructure — is increasingly looking less like a limitation and more like a strategic advantage. In an era where institutional bloat creates bureaucratic drag, O'Neill's ability to pivot instantly in response to changing conditions may be his greatest edge.

Stefano Serafini's statistical models identified the bond market recovery signal weeks before the consensus shifted, resulting in one of his best quarters in years. His ability to detect regime changes through quantitative means provides a template for how systematic and discretionary approaches can complement each other.

Serafini's 2025 enhancements to his modelling framework — incorporating alternative data sources without overfitting — demonstrate the kind of methodological integrity that is rare in quantitative trading circles.

His performance across multiple asset classes continues to validate the cross-asset statistical approach that has defined his career.

Linda Raschke's 44th year of active trading was marked by the wisdom that only comes from having seen everything before. During the AI correction, while younger traders panicked, Raschke calmly traded her short-term patterns with the same discipline she's applied since the Reagan administration.

Raschke's ability to maintain consistent returns in a year that challenged virtually every trading style is a testament to the robustness of her process and the depth of her market understanding.

Her ongoing mentorship efforts continue to shape the next generation of traders, and her emphasis on the fundamentals — discipline, preparation, and emotional control — has never been more relevant.

Tom Basso's trend-following systems captured the major moves in commodities and currencies that defined much of 2025. His patient, systematic approach — which by design misses the first portion of every move — was rewarded by trends that extended further than most expected.

Basso's equanimity during the year's choppy periods, when his systems gave back some gains in ranging markets, exemplifies the psychological strength that makes trend following viable as a long-term approach.

At an age when most have long since retired, Basso continues to trade, research, and teach with an enthusiasm that belies his years.

Chuck Hughes' options strategies thrived in 2025's elevated volatility environment, where higher premiums created richer opportunities for his income-focused approach.

Hughes' disciplined approach to position sizing and hedging kept his portfolio on a steady upward trajectory even during the market's most turbulent periods.

His continued success in a year where many options sellers faced margin calls and forced liquidations underscores the importance of the risk-first philosophy he developed during his aviation career.

Michael Cook's invisible excellence continued in 2025. No interviews, no social media posts, no marketing — just another year of quietly outstanding futures trading results that place him among the best in the world.

Cook's deep specialisation in equity index and energy futures gave him an informational advantage during the year's most complex macro events, where surface-level analysis proved dangerously insufficient.

His inclusion in our rankings for the third consecutive year reflects not just performance but the kind of sustained excellence that separates genuine traders from temporary outperformers.

Larry Williams turns 83 in 2025 and shows no signs of losing his edge. His decades of Commitment of Traders analysis continue to provide insights that complement — and often contradict — the consensus view derived from price action alone.

Williams' contrarian positioning during the year's major sentiment extremes resulted in several well-timed trades that demonstrated why experience remains one of trading's most undervalued assets.

His legacy as a pioneer of trading competition culture, educational content, and independent analysis continues to influence the industry in ways that extend far beyond his personal trading results.