Whiz Kid Michael Marcus

Michael Marcus is an industry whiz kid who having taken his entire fortune and investing it in commodities turned it from $30,000 to $80 million in less than 20 years. He was mentored by investor Ed Seykota while working as an analyst and has passed on what he learned to others ever since.

Biography

Michael Marcus is considered to be one of the most successful investors of the 20th century. He graduated from John Hopkins in 1969 as part of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity and went on to study Psychology at Clark University. When he first began trading, things didn’t go very well and he actually lost more money than he made. But that didn’t last for long and Marcus went on to turn what was left of his investment around to equal millions.

Marcus was married briefly and his first wife filed for a divorce claiming that he spent more time commodities trading than he did with her. He was a follower of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for a short period of time. He owns a mansion in Malibu with its own beach and a ranch in Austin, Texas. However, in the 1980s, Marcus fell and hurt his lower back, suffering from a lumbar disc herniation and coccyx injury, both very painful. Instead of having surgery to correct the problem, he chose alternative therapy treatments. They worked so well that he funded in the CAM Research Institute for more research in prolotherapy and IVSAAT therapy.

Claim to Fame

As a legend in the trading industry, Marcus took $30,000 and turned it into $80 million in less than 20 years. He was a well known commodities trader for Commodities Corporation which was purchased by Goldman Sachs and has offered his own personal philosophy on trading in the ‘Market Wizards’ book written by Jake Schwager.

Why was he successful?

Marcus started trading in 1972 when he invested $700 into plywood futures. Many commodities like wood had their prices frozen by President Nixon at the time. However, futures contracts rose and the $700 Marcus invested turned a profit of $12,000. He invested $24,000 in the same commodities as well as freight derivatives in 1973 and turned it into $64,000.

When he worked for Commodities Corporation he hired Bruce Kovner as a trader. Marcus was already the leading currency trader for the firm and was required to check the market every two hours – part of the reason his first marriage ended as it did. He was also a founding trader for the company. He became the executive vice-president and recently he invested in a small company stock through his own Canmarc Trading Company.

One of the largest stock investments Marcus has made is with ViRexx Medical Corporation. ViRexx does immunotherapy research for cancers, embolotherapy treatment for tumors, and chronic hepatitis B and C. He was elected to the company’s board of directors in May 2006.

Publications

Currently Michael Marcus has not authored any investment books but has given numerous interviews and stated his personal trading philosophy in the book Market Wizards.