Ed Seykota
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Edward Seykota | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 7, 1946 |
| Occupation | commodities trader |
Edward Arthur Seykota (born August 7, 1946) is a commodities trader, who earned BSc degrees in both Electrical Engineering and Management from MIT, both in 1969. In 1970 he pioneered Systems trading by using early punched card computers to test ideas on trading the markets. Seykota resides in Incline Village-Crystal Bay, Nevada, on the north shore of Lake Tahoe.
Career
As a young man he attended high school near The Hague, Netherlands and also lived in Voorburg.
Trading methods
Seykota is a trader who in 1970 pioneered a computerized trading system (now known as System trading) for the futures market for the brokerage house he and Michael Marcus were working for. Later, he decided to venture out on his own and manage a few of his client's accounts.
Much of Seykota's success was attributed to his development and utilization of computerized trading systems to which he first tested on a mainframe IBM computer. Later on, the brokerage house he had been working for adopted his system for their trades.
His interest in creating a computerized system was spawned after he read a letter by Richard Donchian on utilizing mechanical trend following systems for trading and also Donchian's 5 and 20 day moving average system. He was also inspired by the book Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. His first trading system was developed based on exponential moving averages.
Ed Seykota, Market Wizards
Systems don’t need to be changed. The trick is for a trader to develop a system with which he is compatible.
Seykota improved this system over time, adapting the system to fit his trading style and preferences. With the initial version of the system being rigid, he later introduced more rules into the system in addition to pattern triggers and money management algorithms.
Another aspect of his success was his genuine love for trading and his optimistic demeanour. This factor sustained his efforts to continuously improve on his system although he never changed the response indicators of the system and instead fine tuned market stimuli.
Influence
Some of Ed's students have included Michael Marcus, David Druz, Jason Dekker, and Jason Russell of Salida Capital [1]
Trader, instructor, and blogger Michael Martin is known to be one of Ed's protege's as well. [2]
Controversial claims concerning physics
Seykota maintains a website in which, while he does not deny the validity of the Bernoulli principle, he considers it to be misapplied, claiming that these misapplications are bad physics. Seykota refers to his theory as the theory of radial momentum. He writes:
The classic theory of airplane lift is all about wing curvature ... and that, according to Bernoulli's Principle, fast-flowing air has lower pressure. In 1997, after pondering this matter for some twenty years, Ed Seykota concludes that lift has nothing at all to do with Bernoulli's Principle ... rather, lift is a function of Radial Momentum ... the radial fanning out of a fluid lowers its density ... and therefore, the pressure decreases with the distance from the center of radiation.
Seykota's theory is controversial and as a consequence he receives a lot of criticism.
Notes
References
- ^ Covel, Michael (January 13, 2006). "Learn from these up and coming traders". The Connors Group. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
- ^ Covel, Michael. "Trend Following". Trend Following. p. 64.
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- Elbe, Susan (October 11, 2000). "Seykota expects "No Excuses" for reading proficiency". Zephyr staff. University of Nevada, Reno. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
- Troseth, Eric (October 20, 2003). "Can you forecast the market?". Work & Money. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
- Seykota, Ed (March 1993). "Determining Optimal Risk". Stocks & Commodities magazine. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
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Magazines
- Seykota, Ed (March 1991). "MACD: sweet anticipation?". Futures magazine. Retrieved 2006-08-23.
- Hartle, Thom (August 1992). "Ed Seykota Of Technical Tools". Stocks & Commodities magazine. Retrieved 2006-09-05.
- Collins, Daniel P. (November 2001). "Turtles hatch". Futures magazine. Retrieved 2006-08-23.
External links
- "Seykota's official home page". 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
- "Seykota's Trading Tribe website". 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
- "Seykota's Bernoulli challenge website". 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
- "Listing Seykota's "theory of radial momentum"". 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
- "Brief biography". Profile. Master Mind Trader. 2006. Retrieved 2006-04-12.
Further reading
- Schwager, Jack D. (1993). Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders. Collins. ISBN 0-88730-610-1.
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Covel, Michael W. (2009). Trend Following (Updated Edition): Learn to Make Millions in Up or Down Markets. FT Press. ISBN 0-13-702018-X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)