"The key to trading success is emotional discipline.
If intelligence were the key, there would be a lot more people making money trading."
TRADER VIC
Victor Sperandeo is a legendary trader and excellent financial commentator based in the USA. Sperandeo has over 45 successful years on Wall Street in trading independently with his own money and on behalf of big names and other notable investors such as Leon Cooperman and George Soros. He has managed futures trading for EAM Group of Companies and global investment banks such as HSBC, RBS and Nomura.
He is widely known as “Trader Vic” in Wall Street, a title earned because of his intellectual ability and skills to trade profitably.
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Victor Sperandeo is the founder, CEO and President of Alpha Financial Technologies LLC. He is also a founding partner, CEO and President of EAM Partners L.P.
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Mr. Sperandeo is widely regarded as an expert in commodities, particularly in the Energy and Metals sectors. His market crash prediction during a September 1987 Barron’s interview earned him great recognition and highlighted his deep understanding of financial markets. In recent years, Mr. Sperandeo is best known for developing indexes and trading strategies that are designed to benefit from futures price trends. These include both actively managed strategies as well as rules-based algorithmic quantitative models. He has received three patents in the U.S., two in the Bahamas, and one in Australia on financial products using long/short algorithmic indicators or indices in conjunction with leverage, which add alpha while simultaneously reducing risk.
He created the Diversified Trends Indicator™, which is an evolution of these strategies. It is a rules-based, investable trading methodology incorporating a diversified group of highly liquid, exchange-traded commodity and financial futures contracts, reflecting market expectations of near-term and future price movements.
He has been featured twice in Barron’s, “Man of all Markets”, on May 2, 1983, and “Trader Vic the Ultimate Wall Street Pro”, on September 21, 1987 — and been quoted in The Wall Street Journal and Stocks & Commodities. Additionally, he has appeared frequently on CNBC, CNN, Fox and other networks. He has also been included on Ziad Adelnour's list of top 100 Wall Streeters.
“Victor Sperandeo is gifted with one of the finest minds I know. No wonder he’s compiled such an amazing record of success as a money manager. Every investor can benefit from the wisdom he offers in his new book [Trader Vic: Methods of a Wall Street Master]. ”
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Paul Tudor Jones, founder of Tudor Investment Corporation and Billionaire Investor
Trader Vic: Methods of a Wall Street Master
By definition, investors' horizons are long-term (years) and traders' are short-term. This book is aimed at the latter, obviously limiting the scope of its applicability. Noted investment manager Sperandeo explains how he traces stocks and commodities using trends, Dow Theory, Fed-watching, stop-losses, charts, and the panoply of technical analysis combined with his own wrinkles. His chief antagonists are program traders (who move billions likewise in the short-term) and the whims of the market. In the second half, Sperandeo explores the psychology of trading and the use and importance of emotional discipline. He also stresses personal success, not just financial, and presents a solid condensed explanation of real economics, scathingly destroying the wishful-thinking economics of academics and politicians. First half fascinating + second half instructive = a buy for business collections. Learn more...
Trader Vic II: Principles of Professional Speculation
The man Barron's dubbed "the ultimate Wall Street pro" returns with a stunning follow-up to his bestselling Trader Vic—Methods of a Wall Street Master ("The best investment book of 1992"—The Stock Trader's Almanac). Take an advanced class in his patented trading and investment philosophy and learn how the master makes better investment decisions . . . deciphers economic theories and uses them to predict investment outcomes . . . cuts through the lies, fallacies, and distortions that muddle and confound trading and investment decision making . . . and much more! Learn more...
Trader Vic on Commodities: What's Unknown, Misunderstood, and Too Good to Be True
In Trader Vic on Commodities, Wall Street legend Victor Sperandeo explains in simple terms how these markets operate, removes some of the mystique and uncertainty involved, and offers a proven method for capitalizing on commodity market trends—without taking giant risks. Sperandeo shows that, as commodities are cyclical in nature, your goal should be to capture as much of the major market trends as possible, while balancing that goal with a minimum of risk. Learn more...
Cra$hmaker: A Federal Affaire: A Novel
In CRASHMAKER we sail the high seas of global finance and economics with ports-of-call in Constitutional and natural law, monetary history and policy, environmental wackoes, conspiracy theories and the role of morality in daily life. Frankly, to do a proper job of reviewing this tome requires an advanced education in law and economics. Undaunted, I will proceed with my own amateurish efforts. As the authors themselves put it, "CRASHMAKER challenges the reader - in its themes, its characters, even its style and vocabulary. But by design. For any people capable of self-government deserves and demands something more substantial than politically sanitized intellectual pabulum. Learn more...
April 3, 2023 - Victor Sperandeo
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“To understand how markets and economy function, and how they move civilization through ups and downs of recoveries and recessions, one must understand that the process is political. It is really a struggle of freedom versus the power to control in the name of some good cause. The reasons have been the nation, the poor, the common good, altruism, hunger or any one of an unlimited number of human needs and desires. But it boils down to a desire for power and control by leaders over the people."
February 12, 2018 - Has Debt Hit Its Tipping Point? In this examination the legendary Trader Vic brings us another in-depth education about our country's debt and analyzes recent market activity.
"Background: A 'Runaway Train' Ends
The S&P 500 hit it’s all time high on January 26th, and then experienced its first sell-off of any consequence in over a year. Before we look at why it declined, let’s review the background that led to the rally..". Read the full article here
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April 21, 2017 - Victor Sperandeo
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"We are now at a pivotal moment in financial and political history. In the coming four years we will see a destruction of wealth that the world has never before encountered. The illusory paper fortunes created by the credit bubble will be totally decimated. Very few investors have taken any measures to preserve their wealth. But for the small number who own gold and silver, and some precious metal stocks, the coming years will not only ensure their wealth, but also be an investment opportunity of remarkable proportions. The trigger to this destruction will be the end of the European Union, which will lead to chaos, causing the end of the Japan paper pyramid, and an uncontrollable world recession."​
"The key to building wealth is to preserve capital and wait patiently for the right opportunity to make the extraordinary gains."
Victor Sperandeo
Excerpt from Trader Vic — Methods of a Wall Street Master
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“If there is one fatal flaw in this business, it is allowing isolated information to drive trading or investing decisions-committing money without understanding all the risks. And there is only one way to understand all the risks: through systematic knowledge.”
Excerpt from Trader Vic — Methods of a Wall Street Master
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“The last stage of a bear market is caused by distress selling of sound securities, regardless of their value, by those who must find a cash market for at least a portion of their assets.
The market player who avoids being invested near the top of bull markets-where he can really get hurt in a panic crash-and plays the short side in bear markets can be in the position to take advantage of such distress selling. You might miss the last 10 or even 20% of the gains to be made near bull market tops (while making T-bill yields), but you'll definitely still have your capital when the time comes to buy value with tremendous upside potential and almost no downside risk.
In my view, the way to build wealth is to preserve capital, make consistent profits, and wait patiently for the right opportunity to make extraordinary gains.”