Michael Marcus
Encyclopedia
Trader (finance)
A trader is someone in finance who buys and sells financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, commodities and derivatives. A broker who simply fills buy or sell orders is not a trader, as they are merely executing instructions given to them. According to the Wall Street Journal in 2004, a managing...
who, in less than 20 years, is reputed to have turned his initial $30,000 into $80 million. Marcus met his mentor
Mentor
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...
Ed Seykota
Ed Seykota
Edward Arthur Seykota is a commodities trader, who earned S.B. degrees in Electrical Engineering from MIT and Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management, both in 1969. In 1970 he pioneered Systems trading by using early punched card computers to test ideas on trading the markets...
while working as an analyst and learned money management from him. Later while working. at Commodities Corporation
Commodities Corporation
Commodities Corporation was a financial services company, based in Princeton, New Jersey that traded actively across various commodities. The firm was noted as one of the leading commodity and futures trading firms...
and before becoming the company's executive vice president, he hired Bruce Kovner
Bruce Kovner
Bruce Stanley Kovner is an American businessman. He is the founder and Chairman of Caxton Associates, a hedge fund that trades a global macro strategy and is considered amongst the worlds top and largest 10 hedge funds with an estimated $14 billion under management...
to be his assistant and taught Bruce the ins and outs of trading.
Education
He graduated in 1969 Phi Beta Kappa from Johns HopkinsJohns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
and studied Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
at Clark University
Clark University
Clark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.Founded in 1887, it is the oldest educational institution founded as an all-graduate university. Clark now also educates undergraduates...
.
Personal
At one time he was a devout follower of the Maharishi Mahesh YogiMaharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
. His first wife divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d him because he spent more time trading than with her. He has a mansion with a private beach overlooking the ocean in Malibu, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and he also has a ranch near Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
.
In the 1980s Marcus fell on his back and severely injured his lower back. For weeks after, he suffered chronic low back pain
Low back pain
Low back pain or lumbago is a common musculoskeletal disorder affecting 80% of people at some point in their lives. In the United States it is the most common cause of job-related disability, a leading contributor to missed work, and the second most common neurological ailment — only headache is...
and discomfort in his legs, for which he was diagnosed with lumbar
Lumbar
In tetrapod anatomy, lumbar is an adjective that means of or pertaining to the abdominal segment of the torso, between the diaphragm and the sacrum ...
disc herniation and a coccyx
Coccyx
The coccyx , commonly referred to as the tailbone, is the final segment of the vertebral column. Comprising three to five separate or fused vertebrae below the sacrum, it is attached to the sacrum by a fibrocartilaginous joint, the sacrococcygeal symphysis, which permits limited movement between...
injury; he decided against surgery and chose an alternative therapy. He claims to have found pain relief through Prolotherapy
Prolotherapy
Prolotherapy is also known as "proliferation therapy" or "regenerative injection therapy." involves injecting an otherwise non-pharmacological and non-active irritant solution into the body, generally in the region of tendons or ligaments for the purpose of strengthening weakened connective tissue...
treatments and IVSAAT therapy. Delighted with the results he funded the program to build the CAM Research Institute.
Career
Marcus began his trading career in 1972, when he took his whole life savings of $700 and bought plywood futures. In the summer of 1972 President Richard NixonRichard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
froze prices of some commodities like wood, but the futures contracts went sky high and Michael turned his $700 into $12,000. He repeated the feat in 1973, turning $24,000 into $64,000. He also used Freight derivative
Freight derivative
Freight derivatives, which includes Forward Freight Agreement , container freight swap agreements and options based on these, are financial instruments for trading in future levels of freight rates, for dry bulk carriers, tankers and containerships...
s.
While at Commodities Corporation he hired Bruce Kovner
Bruce Kovner
Bruce Stanley Kovner is an American businessman. He is the founder and Chairman of Caxton Associates, a hedge fund that trades a global macro strategy and is considered amongst the worlds top and largest 10 hedge funds with an estimated $14 billion under management...
as a trader. As the firm's leading currency trader, Marcus had to wake up every two hours throughout the night to check the markets, which had the negative consequence of ending his first marriage.
As a founding trader of the firm, Marcus rose through the ranks at Commodities Corporation eventually becoming an EVP
EVP
The abbreviation EVP may refer to:* Executive Vice President, an officer in government or business who is next in rank below a president.* The Estonian Left Party , a political party...
. Marcus has recently diversified by investing in small-company stock through his holding company Canmarc Trading Co and later made private-placement investments in small OTC Bulletin Board
OTC Bulletin Board
The OTC Bulletin Board or OTCBB is an interdealer electronic quotation system in the United States that displays real-time quotes, last-sale prices, and volume information for many over-the-counter equity securities that are not listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange or a national securities exchange...
listed companies like Prospector Consolidated Resources
and Encore Clean Energy Inc
and Pink Sheets
Pink Sheets
OTC Markets Group, Inc., informally known as "Pink Sheets", is a private company that provides services to the U.S. over-the-counter securities market including electronic quotations, trading, messaging, and information platforms. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, OTC...
Touchstone Resources.
ViRexx Medical Corp, a company focused on immunotherapy
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is a medical term defined as the "treatment of disease by inducing, enhancing, or suppressing an immune response". Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as activation immunotherapies. While immunotherapies that reduce or suppress are...
treatments for certain cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
s, chronic hepatitis B and C
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease primarily affecting the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus . The infection is often asymptomatic, but chronic infection can lead to scarring of the liver and ultimately to cirrhosis, which is generally apparent after many years...
, and embolotherapy treatments for tumor
Tumor
A tumor or tumour is commonly used as a synonym for a neoplasm that appears enlarged in size. Tumor is not synonymous with cancer...
s, announced Marcus's election to its Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
at its Annual General Meeting
Annual general meeting
An annual general meeting is a meeting that official bodies, and associations involving the public , are often required by law to hold...
held May 25, 2006.