Has he tried trading financial products other than stocks, such as futures, forex, or cryptocurrency?
Okay, let's talk about the legendary figure, B.N.F. (Takashi Kotegawa).
The question of whether he traded financial products other than stocks is actually one that many people curious about him have asked.
Based on all publicly available information, including his few interviews and media reports, the answer is: he focused primarily, even exclusively, on trading Japanese stocks.
Let me break this down for easier understanding:
Futures and Forex
There is no evidence that he traded stock index futures, commodity futures, or forex.
It's safe to say that B.N.F.'s core strategy was based on contrarian short-term trading centered around the "divergence rate".
- Simply put: He monitored the entire stock market, looking for stocks whose prices had deviated significantly from their "normal trajectory" (like the 25-day moving average) in the short term due to various reasons.
- If the price had fallen too sharply, he would judge this as excessive market panic and buy in ("bottom fish"), betting on a rebound towards normal levels.
- If the price had surged too rapidly, he might short the stock instead.
His methodology was deeply rooted in studying the characteristics of individual stocks, market psychology, and fund flows. The trading logic of futures and forex is fundamentally different, being much more influenced by global macroeconomic data, central bank policies, geopolitical events, and similar factors.
B.N.F. was someone who took "focus" to the extreme. He preferred to deeply understand the Japanese stock market he knew well rather than venture into a new domain with entirely different rules and gameplay.
Cryptocurrency
This is even more unlikely.
Consider that B.N.F.'s most active and documented period was roughly from around 2000 to 2010. He gained fame after the "J-Com incident" in 2005 and reached the peak of his assets around 2008.
At that time, Bitcoin was just emerging (2009), and the entire cryptocurrency market was in its very, very early infancy. It wasn't a mainstream investment product at all; in fact, beyond tech geeks, hardly anyone even knew what it was.
Therefore, he simply wasn't around for the cryptocurrency boom, making it impossible for him to have traded it. By the time cryptocurrencies gained significant traction, he had already achieved legendary status and become very low-key, practically vanishing from public view.
To Summarize
So, overall, you can view Takashi Kotegawa as an immensely focused stock trading master.
Unlike many modern traders who dabble in stocks, futures, crypto, and forex, his philosophy seemed to be: find a battlefield he could truly understand (Japanese stocks), sharpen the sharpest weapon possible (his contrarian short-term strategy), and unleash this weapon to its maximum potential within that arena.
For him, rashly entering an unfamiliar field could disrupt his trading rhythm and mental state, ultimately proving counterproductive. This exemplifies the focus and discipline of a top-tier trader.