Scott Ramsey: Discretionary edge

摘要

Denali Asset Management President Scott Ramsey isn't sure whether he could quantify his discretionary trading methods into a systematic model, but he knows he will never try. It is precisely the daily chess match with the markets that he finds so compelling about trading and managing money. "I have to match my skills with the market, and the market is infinitely smarter than any one person," Ramsey says. "You are going up against it every day, and you have to do the best you can. You have to control your risk, and you have to recognize those times that you have the advantage―and you have to press that advantage―and you have to recognize those times that you are at a disadvantage―and you take your chips off the table." Ramsey developed his strategies during his 20-plus years of trading. He has been a registered commodity trading advisor (CTA) since the early 1990s but has set up his current program as a hedge fund because its structure suits his trading style better. The move is paying off. Ramsey's hedge fund earned 47% in 2001, 40.58% in 2000 and 24.16% in the last half of 1999. "The [reason the] hedge fund format is the most effective vehicle for the way I trade the markets...is, number one, the commission format is favorable and [number two] it allows me to trade different asset classes so that regardless of where the opportunity in the marketplace lies, I have the ability to participate in it," says Ramsey, adding the majority of his trades are in futures.