TTU07: Inside Scandinavia’s Longest Running CTA Firm ft. Martin Estlander of Estlander & Partners – 1of2

Jun 22, 2014

Martin Estlander, the founder of Estlander & Partners, talks about his involvement in the CTA industry, the evolution of the firm, and their main programs. They discuss the business organization of a modern CTA firm, the role of volatility in their portfolio, and the structure and key performance drivers of the Alpha Trend Program. The podcast also explores Estlander's career trajectory, relaxation techniques, and the challenges and opportunities in managing a futures trading business.

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Introduction

00:00 • 3min

From Equities to Derivatives: A Journey in the Financial World

02:50 • 7min

Relaxation, Sports, and Mindfulness: Balancing Trading and Personal Life

09:55 • 3min

Combining stress and introspection, overview of programs, and investor preferences

13:08 • 3min

Organizing and Managing a Futures Trading Business

16:37 • 3min

Understanding the Evolution of a Trading Firm's Track Record

19:43 • 12min

Identifying Trading Opportunities with Short-Term Patterns

32:04 • 17min

Estlander & Partners – The Oldest CTA firm in Scandinavia and one of the Longest Running CTA firms in the World.

Thank you for listening to my conversation with its founder Martin Estlander.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

How Martin got involved in the CTA Industry
The Evolution of Estlander & Partners and Where They are Today
Founding of an options trading business in Frankfurt in 1991
About the inspiring time in which he was part of the Commodities Corp. team until 1998 when Goldman Sachs came in and bought CC
About Jan Haraldsson’s Alpha Trend Program and how they recently opened the Program for external investors
The recreational activities that support Martin’s trading philosophy. Skiing, Tennis, Sailing and Meditation
An overview of the Main Programs Estlander & Partners run today – Alpha Trend, Freedom, Global Markets & Presto
The business organization of a modern day CTA firm – What is “in-house” and what is outsourced
How volatility is perceived in the Estlander & Partners portfolio
The structure of the Alpha Trend Program and why it is designed to trade 74 different instruments and how they mix together
How Alpha Trend’s pattern recognition differs from the traditional moving average crossover or price breakout
Whether Alpha Trend is Intra-day, End-of-Day… or both
What Alpha Trends’ models are designed to capture
How Alpha Trend manages stop loss and stop profits when entering a new market
Particularly important key performance drivers of Alpha Trend
The human intervention required to run the Alpha Trend model
How Martin Estlander defines risk
Achilles Risk and how Alpha Trend manages for it

Resources & Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Learn about Commodities Corporation, the company behind some of the all-time great traders

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.

Follow Estlander & Partners Linkedin.

IT’s TRUE 👀 – most CIO’s read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “The Many Flavors of Trend Following” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com

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