Victor.......the legend grows..........

Many know of my following of Victor Niederhoffer's web site. I make no bones about. The single best resource for "meals for a lifetime" bar none. (With all due respects to Dr. Brett Steenbarger and Lazlo Biryini's site as well) Many don't have a clue when I reference Mr. Niederhoffer and I thought I'd share some background on the man and the legend.

Niederhoffer employs proprietary programs that predict short-term moves using multivariate time series analysis. In the five-year period since 2001, Victor Niederhoffer's fund has returned 50% a year(compounded). His worst year in this period was 2004 returning 40%, in 2005 he returned 56.2% (as reported in eFinancial News). On April 6, 2006, the industry group MarHedge awarded Matador Fund Ltd. And Manchester Trading, two funds managed by Niederhoffer the prize for best performance by a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) in the two years 2004 and 2005.

From 2000-2003, Niederhoffer co-wrote with financial writer Laurel Kenner a widely read weekly column on the markets for CNBC MoneyCentral. He and Kenner co-wrote Practical Speculation (John Wiley & Sons, February 2003), called "the best trading book of the young millennium" by Active Trader magazine. Niederhoffer's life story, and the lessons he learned growing up that helped him become a success were told in, the 1997 best-selling book The Education of a Speculator.

On his website Niederhoffer claims to be proudest of having had “a benevolent influence” on people that came in contact with him. At least a dozen employees whom he started out or taught became billionaires or multi-centimillionaires, including Monroe Trout, Toby Crabel, Stu Rose, John Hummer and Roy Niederhoffer (Victor's younger brother), all of whom are famous in money management or M&A.

Victor Niederhoffer is famous for hiring young and extremely bright traders, whom he mentors. He encourages them to develop their own trading strategies, and runs his firm more like a science lab than a traditional trading firm.

Squash
Niederhoffer is one of the greatest hardball squash players in history, and is a member of the squash hall of fame. Niederhoffer who had played racquet sports all his life growing up had never played squash when he entered Harvard University in 1960. One year later he won the national junior title and by the time he graduated, Niederhoffer was the National Intercollegiate squash champion. He won the U.S. Nationals five times (a record exceeded only by Stanley Pearson who won his sixth in 1923). He also won three national doubles titles. In 1975, he defeated one of the greatest players in the history of the game Sharif Khan in the final of the North American Open (the only time that Khan failed to win the title in the 13 year period between 1969 and 1981).

Other Activities
Niederhoffer is also the founder of the NYC Junto, a libertarian group hosted on the first Thursday of every month since 1985. He is a devoted follower of Ayn Rand. The NYC Junto focuses on libertarianism, objectivism and investing and was inspired by the Junto hosted by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia from 1727 to 1757. He has six daughters, Galt (named after Sir Francis Galton), Katie, Rand, Victoria, Artemis and Kira. His son Aubrey (named after the main character from the Aubrey Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian) was born in May 2006.