Ed Seykota

Infobox Person


image_size = 150px
name = Edward Seykota
caption =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1946|8|7|mf=y
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = commodities trader
spouse =

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 punch 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"

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 cite web
last = Covel
first = Michael
title = Learn from these up and coming traders
publisher = The Connors Group
date = January 13, 2006
url = http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/swingtrading/commentary/trendfollower/01132006-48645.cfm
accessdate = 2006-11-17 ]

Controversial claims concerning physics

Infobox Pseudoscience
name=Radial momentum
topics=* Physics
claims=* "Air flowing over the top of a wing is deflected upward by "radial momentum"; decreased density, rather than decreased pressure, induces lift.
origyear=* 1997
origprop=* Edward Seykota
currentprop=* Edward Seykota

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 account of his theory that it is revolutionary and controversial, and as a consequence he receives a lot of criticism.

Notes

References

*cite web
last = Elbe
first = Susan
title = Seykota expects "No Excuses" for reading proficiency
work = Zephyr staff
publisher = University of Nevada, Reno
date = October 11, 2000
url = http://www.jour.unr.edu/educate/elbe.trusteesseykota.html
accessdate = 2006-09-04
*cite news
last = Troseth
first = Eric
title = Can you forecast the market?
work = Work & Money
publisher = The Christian Science Monitor
date = October 20, 2003
url = http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1020/p13s01-wmgn.html
accessdate = 2006-09-04
*cite news
last = Seykota
first = Ed
coauthors = Dave Druz
title = Determining Optimal Risk
publisher = Stocks & Commodities magazine
date = March 1993
url = http://traderscom.stores.yahoo.net/-v11-c03-determi-pdf.html
accessdate = 2006-09-04
*cite web
title = Featured Speaker
work = TSAA 23rd Annual Conference
publisher = The Technical Securities Analyst Association of San Francisco
date = November 12, 2005
url = http://www.tsaasf.org/images/stories/newsletters/TSAA%20Conference%20Announcment%2005.pdf
accessdate = 2006-09-04 |format=PDF

Magazines

*cite news
last = Seykota
first = Ed
title = MACD: sweet anticipation?
publisher = Futures magazine
date = March 1991
url = http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/computer-software/154988-1.html
accessdate = 2006-08-23
*cite news
last = Hartle
first = Thom
title = Ed Seykota Of Technical Tools
publisher = Stocks & Commodities magazine
date = August 1992
url = http://traderscom.stores.yahoo.net/-v10-c08-edseyko-pdf.html
accessdate = 2006-09-05
*cite news
last = Collins
first = Daniel P.
title = Turtles hatch
publisher = Futures magazine
date = November 2001
url = http://www.allbusiness.com/personal-finance/investing-trading-futures/822658-1.html
accessdate = 2006-08-23

External links

*cite web
title = Seykota's official home page
year = 2006
url = http://www.seykota.com
accessdate = 2006-09-04
*cite web
title = Seykota's Trading Tribe website
year = 2006
url = http://www.tradingtribe.com
accessdate = 2006-09-04
*cite web
title = Seykota's Bernoulli challenge website
year = 2006
url = http://www.radialmomentum.com
accessdate = 2006-09-04
*cite web
title = Listing Seykota's "theory of radial momentum"
year = 2006
url = http://www.crank.net/antigravity.html
accessdate = 2006-09-04
*cite web
title = Brief biography
work = Profile
publisher = Master Mind Trader
year = 2006
url = http://www.mastermindtrader.com/Ed_Seykota.html
accessdate = 2006-04-12

Further reading

*cite book
last = Schwager
first = Jack D.
authorlink = Jack D. Schwager
coauthors =
title = Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders
publisher = Collins
year = 1993
location =
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0-88730-610-1
*cite book
last = Covel
first = Michael W.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Trend Following
publisher = Financial Times Prentice Hall
year = 2005
location =
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0-13-134550-8