Click here to view research sources for Trout's famous thesis paper.

Monroe Trout

Monroe Trout is an interesting short-term trader. He is a major supporter of the philosophical tenets of Ayn Rand. Many top traders believe deeply in Rand's teachings for good reason. We recommend a visit to Rand's site for solid insight.

Q. When did you first get interested in the markets?
A. When I was 17 yrs. old, I got a job for a futures trader named Vilar Kelly who lived in my hometown of New Canaan, Connecticut. He had an Apple computer, and at the time (1978), you couldn't buy data on diskette--or at least he didn't know where to buy it if it was available. He had reams of price data that he had collected from newspapers and wanted typed into his computer. He hired me and paid me a couple of bucks an hour to type in this data. That summer job sparked my interest in the markets. By my sophomore year at Harvard, I knew that I wanted to be a trader. I took whatever courses they had on the markets. I did my senior thesis on the stock index futures market.

The New Market Wizards by Jack Schwager

Monroe Trout, Jr., born January 22, 1962, is the sole principal of Trout Trading Company. He has traded futures and other contracts as a full-time profession since September 1984, and has been involved in futures market research since 1978. Mr. Trout graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1984 with a B.A. in Economics. While at Harvard, Mr. Trout wrote six major papers about the forecasting of futures and options prices, culminated by his senior honors thesis titled Price movements in a Stock Index Futures Market. From September 1984 until June 1986, Mr. Trout was employed as a futures and options trader by NCZ Commodities, Inc. (NCZ), A Futures Trading Firm run by Victor Niederhoffer. While with NCA, Mr. Trout traded futures for both the house and his own personal accounts. In addition to extensive off-the-floor trading experience, Mr. Trout also has a certain amount of on-the-floor trading experience, having the-floor trading experience, Mr. Trout also has a certain amount of on-the-floor trading experience, having been a member of the Commodity Exchange, Inc. (COMEX), the New York Futures Exchange, and the American Stock Exchange. In July 1986, Mr. Trout left NCZ to establish Trout Trading Company.

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