Victor Sperandeo
Victor Sperandeo — a money manager and professional trader also known as Trader Vic — is generally considered an expert on commodities (particularly in the Energy and Metals sectors), where he has earned a reputation for profitably trading in declining markets. Mr. Sperandeo has invested through approximately seven bull and seven bear market cycles, and has over 40 years experience in the stock, bond, futures, commodities, and currency markets. He has traded independently for, among others, George Soros, Leon Cooperman and BT Alex Brown. His market crash prediction during the September 1987 Barron’s interview earned him widespread recognition of his understanding of the financial markets.
Career
Mr. Sperandeo is President and CEO of Alpha Financial Technologies (AFT), LLC, and President of Enhanced Alpha Management (EAM), LP.
He created the Diversified Trends Index™, 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. These include:
- The S&P Diversified Trends Indicator (S&P DTI), a long and short indicator (non-benchmark index) comprised of 24 different components, 50% each of commodity and financial futures
- The S&P Commodity Trends Indicator (S&P CTI), a long/short Commodity-only Indicator
- The S&P Financial Trends Indicator (S&P FTI), a long/short Financials-only Indicator.
The concept was subsequently licensed to Standard & Poor’s as the S&P Diversified Trends Indicator and is constructed, calculated, and maintained by Standard & Poor’s.
Mr. Sperandeo holds two 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.
Mr. Sperandeo’s investment strategies currently have almost $3 billion in fee-generating assets. He manages several successful accounts and commodity pools for such entities as the global investment banks HSBC, Nikko, Nomura, RBS/ABN AMRO among others. Licensees of AFT’s products include the fund management companies Rydex and Direxion, as well as global investment banks including Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Nomura and Nikko.
Notoriety
Mr. Sperandeo was a 2008 Inductee into the Trader Hall of Fame by Trader Magazine, and named “The Ultimate Wall Street Pro” by Barron’s.
He has made numerous appearances on financial programs on CNBC, CNN, Fox and other networks, offering his insights and expertise — particularly on commodities — to the viewing public. Mr. Sperandeo has been profiled twice in Barron’s — “Man of all Markets”, on May 2, 1983, and “Trader Vic the Ultimate Wall Street Pro”, on September 21, 1987. His philosophies and methodologies have also been featured at length in the books Super Traders, and New Market Wizards.
Bibliography
- 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.
- Mr. Sperandeo has also authored articles and editorials for dozens of publications including Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, Institutional Investor and many other professional magazines.
External links
- Alpha Financial Technologies web site
- The S&P Diversified Trends Indicator (S&P DTI)
- The S&P Commodity Trends Indicator (S&P CTI)
- The S&P Financial Trends Indicator (S&P FTI)
Further reading
Schwager, Jack D. (1995). The New Market Wizards. 16 pages: Wiley; New Ed edition. ISBN 0-471-13236-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
Rubenfeld, Alan (1992). Super Traders. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 1-557-38284-0.