Michael Phillips Marcus was a

commodities In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. The price of a co ...

trader Trader may refer to: * Merchant, retailer or one who attempts to generally buy wholesale and sell later at a profit * The owner of a trading post, where manufactured goods were exchanged with native peoples for furs and hides. * Trader (finance), ...

who, in less than 20 years, is reputed to have turned his initial $30,000 into $80 million.

Career

Marcus began his trading career in 1972 when he bought plywood futures with his life savings of $7000. In the summer of 1972 President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

froze prices of some commodities, but the futures contracts rallied sharply, increasing Marcus' stake from $7000 into $12,000. In 1973 he turned $24,000 into $64,000. He also used

Freight derivative The international shipping industry can be divided into four closely related shipping markets, each trading in a different commodity: the freight market, the sale and purchase market, the newbuilding market and the demolition market. These four ma ...

s. Marcus learned money management laws from

Ed Seykota Edward Arthur Seykota (born August 7, 1946) 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 ...

, whom he met while working as an analyst. Marcus eventually became an EVP at

Commodities Corporation Commodities Corporation (frequently referred to as "CC") 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 firm ...

. Marcus has recently invested in small-company stock through his holding company Canmarc Trading Co and later made private-placement investments in small

OTC Bulletin Board The OTC (Over-The-Counter) Bulletin Board or OTCBB was a United States quotation medium operated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for its subscribing members. FINRA closed the OTCBB on November 8, 2021. The board was used for ...

listed companies like Prospector Consolidated Resources and Encore Clean Energy Inc and Pink Sheets Touchstone Resources. ViRexx Medical Corp, a company focused on

immunotherapy Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as ''activation immunotherapies,'' while immunotherap ...

treatments for certain

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

s, chronic hepatitis B and C, and embolotherapy treatments for

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

s, announced Marcus's election to its Board of Directors at its Annual General Meeting held May 25, 2006. Marcus was featured by Thomas A Bass, in the book ''The Predictors: How a Band of Maverick Physicists Used Chaos Theory to Trade Their Way to a Fortune on Wall Street.'' Additionally, Marcus was interviewed by Jack Schwager in the book Market Wizards. Marcus was described as a chartist who "keeps an eye on market penetration and resistance."

Education and personal

Raised in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, he graduated in 1969

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

from

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...

and studied

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in th ...

. At one time he was a devout follower of the

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 1918

Children

Michael has two children, Aubrey (birth name Christopher), and Will.

Death

Michael Marcus passed on March 25, 2023, in Austin, Texas. After his death, his son Aubrey talked about his life in an episode of his podcast.My Dad Died: The Blessings Of The Father Pt 1 w/ Dr. Marc Gafni
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Career

Education and personal

Children

Death

Notes

References

Books

Further reading