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Victor Sperandeo was born in 1945, in the United States. He started his trading career in 1968 when he took up a position as an options trader dealing with over-the-counter securities at Filer Schmidt & Co., a well known dealer of stock options.

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In 1970 he left Filer Schmidt & Co and he joined U.S. Options. There he continued trading as a trustee for company clients and also a securities options trader for banking institutions. He continued working with Over-The–Counter securities.

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In 1970, Mr. Sperandeo found his own trading firm, Ragnar Option Corporation. Ragnar, which focused on Sperandeo’s speciality in over the counter futures, employed tailor made customer-centered strategies. This strategy worked very well and in six months it became the largest over-the–counter securities options dealer not only n the United sates but also around the world.

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Victor Sperandeo was Ragnar’s President  until February 1977 when it was merged with Weeden to form Weeden & Co. There he excelled again into the block trader in the glamour stocks and was appointed Vice President, a position he served until Weeden was liquidated.

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In 1979, Mr. Sperandeo launched Hugo Securities Co. Inc., where he put his teaching skills to practice. Willing to share his experience and skills as a trading guru, Sperandeo used his firm to teach other traders in the market on how to build a market maker business and how to be become a specialist in trading securities options. Hugo Securities eventually took hold of several trading seats on the NYSE, as well as on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Pacific Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange and Philadelphia Stock Exchange.

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In 1982, Sperandeo managed a short-term portfolio for the Quantum Fund owned by George Soros. While managing his own firm Hugo securities he worked as the principal and point person for trade advisors and commodity advisors. Mr. Sperandeo registered himself in February 1984, officially as a trading and commodity pool operator and served in that capacity until March 1987.

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He also handled the Victory Partners hedge fund trading Security indexes and options contracts from June 1983 to 1986. In 1988, he established the Rand Management Corporation. This firm was a key investment adviser registered with the SEC.

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In 1989, Victor Sperandeo decided to sell the Hugo Securities Co. Inc branches that deal with securities. He however flourished in the trade futures markets. He established himself as a registered commodity trading advisor between 1989 until 1993.

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He branded powerful trading tools such as the “1-2-3 Reversal”, “2B” Pattern, the “Diversified Trends Indicator®” an indicator still relevant in the commodity market.

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Since their formation between 2000 and 2001 Victor Sperandeo served as CEO and president of EAM Partners L.P. and Alpha Financial Technologies, LLC.


AFT is a respected financial engineering company specializing on futures-based indices research and development, focusing on indices that were created by Victor Sperandeo:

  • The DTI or Diversified Trends Indicator—launched in 2004, the commodity index focuses on long/short financial futures.

  • The FTI or Financial Trends Indicator—yet another DTI sub-index which is also a currency index and a long/short financial futures index.

  • The CTI or Commodity Trends Indicator—a DTI sub-index launched in 2004.

  • The GERI or the Global Equity Rotator Index—is a long-only global equity futures index that prioritizes the 5 most proficient indexes from 14 equity indices on a yearly basis.

  • The FXTI or FX Trends Index—launched in 2010, the FTI is also a long/short currency futures index.

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The DTI, FTI and CTI indexes were Standard & Poor licensed from 2002 – 2009 and were later referred to as the S&P Diversified Trends Indicator, S&P Financial Trends Indicator S&P Commodity Trends Indicator. As of 2009, AFT began to directly license its indices via providers and product developers, as well as to providers who can build and sell investment products to retail investors and financial institutions.

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Apart from its financial systems, AFT patents were also of great value in the investment market. It has received 3 patents in the United States, 1 in Australia and 2 in the Bahamas. It also has a number of pending patents on financial products employing long/short indexes or indicators in concurrence with leverage. These aspects tend to add alpha at the same time reducing risk.

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AFT has compiled a group of product issuers that are associated to its indexes including: Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Nomura, Macquarie Bank, UBS, Guggenheim Investments, Wisdom-Tree among others.

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Under Victor Sperandeo’s watch, EAM has, and continues to, develop methodologies and principles that are readily available to the global financial community. In itself EAM itself does not offer portfolio management services; however, it serves as an advisory partner to subsidiaries, and in its place provides the required services for portfolio management for qualified financial institutions.

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In 2008 Victor was inducted into the Trader Hall of Fame by Trader Magazine and included on ZiadAdelnour’s list of top 100 Wall Streeters, one of the highest honours in the industry.

Awards and Honors

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  • Victor Sperandeo topped Ziad Adelnour’s list of 100 top Wall Street greats and was indicted into the Trader Hall of Fame by Trader Magazine in 2008.

  • He has also featured several times in Super Traders and New Market Wizards — the best-selling book for traders.

  • He was been profiled twice in Barron’s books “Man of all Markets” (1983) and “Trader Vic the Ultimate Wall Street Pro” (1987).

  • Sperandeo has been an avid writer writing articles and publications for Stocks & Commodities magazine and The Wall Street Journal. In addition, he has also been a panelist and commentator on financial programs on popular networks such as CNN, Fox and CNBC as well other business and finance networks.

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Books

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Victor Sperandeo has written three books that showcase his principles and philosophies as a trader:

  • Trader Vic – Methods of a Wall Street Master, John Wiley & Sons, 1993, ISBN 0-471-30497-2

  • Trader Vic II : Principles of Professional Speculation, John Wiley & Sons, 1994, ISBN 0-471-53577-X

  • Trader Vic on Commodities: What’s Unknown, Misunderstood, and Too Good To Be True, John Wiley & Sons, 2008, ISBN 0-470-10212-8

  • Cra$hmaker: A Federal Affaire, V. Sperandeo & A. Almeida, 2000, ISBN-10: 0967175909, ISBN-13: 978-0967175904

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Some of Victor's Rules

  1. Trade with a plan and stick to it.

  2. Trade with the trend. The trend is your friend!

  3. Use stop loss orders whenever practical.

  4. When in doubt, get out!

  5. Be patient., never over trade.

  6. Let your profits run; cut your losses short.

  7. Never let a profit run into a loss.

  8. Buy weakness and sell strength. Be just as willing to sell as you are to buy.

  9. Be an investor in the early stages of bull markets. Be a speculator in the latter stages of bull markets and in bear markets.

  10. Never average a loss-don’t add to a losing position.

  11. Never buy just because the price is low. Never sell just because the price is high.

  12. Trade only liquid markets.

  13. Never initiate a position in a fast market.

  14. Tips are for waiters. Trade with the trend not your friend.

  15. Always analyze your mistakes.

  16. Beware of “takeunders”. (Bad mergers)

  17. Never trade if your success depends on a good execution.

  18. Always keep your own records of trades.

  19. Know and follow the rules!

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Top Five Quotes From

Market Wizard Victor Sperandeo

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“I think successful trading, or poker playing for that matter, involves speculating rather than gambling. Successful speculation implies taking risks when the odds are in your favor. Just like in poker, where you have to know which hands to bet on, in trading you have to know when the odds are in your favor.” – Sperandeo

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“Trading the market without knowing what stage it is in is like selling life insurance to twenty-year-olds and eighty-year-olds at the same premium.” – Sperandeo

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“To be a successful trader, you have to be able to admit mistakes. People who are very bright don’t make very many mistakes. In a sense, they generally are correct. In trading, however, the person who can easily admit to being wrong is the one who walks away a winner.” – Sperandeo

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“Ty Cobb once was asked why he never had slumps. He said that whenever he felt himself getting into a slump, he wouldn’t try to get a hit, but he would simply try to make contact with the ball. To relate that concept to trading, when you’re in a slump, try to be patient and wait for a trade that you feel very confident about and keep the bet size small. Your goal should not be to make lots of money but rather to get your confidence back by making correct decisions.” – Sperandeo

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“Being involved in this business requires tremendous dedication and desire. However, you shouldn’t make trading your whole life. You have to take time off. You need to spend time with loved ones. You need to balance your life.” – Sperandeo

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