Our Founder and CEO Steve Cohen participated in an insightful fireside chat at the 2025 Sohn Investment Conference in New York, sharing his perspectives on the current market environment and reflecting on his extensive career.
In his market commentary, Steve described an economic landscape at a crossroads – caught in tension between growth and contraction. He has been advising Point72’s investment professionals to recalibrate their expectations for more modest returns and to prepare for potential sideways market movements. He also emphasized the importance of adapting to changing conditions and maintaining discipline in challenging environments.
Beyond market analysis, Steve reflected on lessons learned from his nearly five-decade career in finance. He drew a thoughtful parallel between professional investors and athletes, noting how even the greatest baseball players experience slumps and the importance of establishing and following a process. Steve also spoke candidly about how a supportive home environment has helped him sustain his professional drive over the years.
The conversation concluded with some rapid-fire questions that revealed Steve’s straightforward philosophy:
- Right now, the market feels: “Toppy”
- The part of the process you cannot skip: “Preparation. Great preparation takes care of a lot of potential mistakes”
- When facing your first drawdown: “It’s not the end of the world…Everyone has scars in the markets, and you should take it as a badge of honor”
- One thing I’m still trying to figure out: “I deal with a lot of people and trying to figure out what’s going through their mind is a tough thing to do”
- The habit that has made the biggest different in my career: “I’m relentless. I’m hardwired. I just don’t give up… I’m just tenacious”
- What would the younger Steve be most proud of: “It’s not about me anymore. It’s about how I affect other people and how do I do things that are bigger than me. I consider myself irrelevant. It is about everything else”