<p>That’s not a fair analogy. First of all, they were some of the most brilliant minds in the field, so no wonder they didn’t have tons of trouble. Secondly, the original failure, while ridden with awful risk management, was not exactly a failure. The trade they put on turned out to be correct, but their credit dried up before this happened (due to the defaulting of Russia).</p>
<p>If Warren Buffett made a bad trade tomorrow that wiped out most of his equity due to an outlier event (like a MAJOR nation defaulting), do you think he wouldn’t be able to raise capital a year or two later? (and yes, this isn’t a perfect comparison either but you get the point).</p>
<p>Not everyone can bounce back from that, you’re average trader might not be able to. Not everyone on Wall Street is this superstar, its like any other profession.</p>