John W. Henry

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John W. Henry (born, 1949), a hedge fund manager, is considered one of the most successful futures traders ever.^[1] He has been called a visionary and an analytical whiz^[2] and is one of the America's premier players in the global futures markets.^[3] He is currently the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Adult life 3 The Fund 4 Baseball 5 References 6 Notes 7 External links 8 Further reading

[edit] Early years

John W. Henry was born in Quincy, Illinois in 1949. His early childhood years were spent learning about farming and raising the land in Forrest City, Arkansas on land owned by his parents, who were farmers by profession. At the age of 15 he suffered a lung related illness which caused the family to move to Apple Valley, California where the weather was drier and the desert climate helped him recover. He attended various community colleges, including Victor Valley College in Victorville, California, the University of California at Riverside and UCLA, studying philosophy but failed to obtain his degree. John was also a singer-songwriter and travelled the US as a professional singer.

At his father's passing John was confronted with the daunting task of running the farm his father had left for him, only being 15 years old at the time John had an uncanny ability for mathematics and numbers in general so he started using hedging techniques in order to counteract the changing prices in commodities hedging crops like soybeans and corn for farmland he owned. One day a commodities broker at Reynolds Securities (which eventually became Morgan Stanley) thought John had an uncanny ability to hedge positions with a high return on capital so the broker asked him if he could manage some money for individual investors. He declined the offer but in the next five years he developed some of his ideas about trading the grains.

During the summer of 1980 he was vacationing in Norway with his then wife Mia when he came up with his formula for trading the markets which still hold true today, he created a mechanical approach to trading the futures market on his return to California he tested his method on all the markets he could get data from. It was a simple theory based on trends and trend following approach.

He began his career as a full time speculator in the commodities markets eventually obtaining his CTA Certification in 1981, this would allow him to not only trade his own money but the money of others as well. He opened his first office in Newport Beach, California then In 1989 Henry took his entire operation to New England near the Aspetuck River in Westport, Connecticut two years latter he would open another office in Boca Raton, Florida

[edit] Adult life

After his move to South Florida he married Peggy Hewett, and the couple had a child in 1996.

He speaks with a soft voice, is placid-mannered, dresses very conservatively and is press-shy. Reportedly he is a Democrat and is also said to be a card shark. He and his funds are part of the managed futures industry. Among others he serves as a trustee for the Library of Congress, Mind-Body Medical Institute^[4] at Harvard University. John is a Futures Hall of Fame Inductee^[5] and also received Lifetime Achievement Awards from Institutional Investor^[6] and the Ted Williams museum. ^[7]

[edit] The Fund

The Fund was founded in 1982 under the name John W. Henry & Company Inc. It is an alternative asset management fund, the 8th largest managed futures advisor in the world by Assets under Management.^[8]Total assets under management stood at 2.3 billion USD divided among 10 trading programs or funds that invest in a variety of commodity, financial futures or foreign exchange strategies, the current bellwether fund is the “Strategic Allocation Program” with 1.5 billion USD The Flagship Fund is the “Financial and Metals Portfolio” since its year of inception of 1984 has attained a record breaking return of 24% as of April 2006.^[8]

The fund employs a method of investing based on technical analysis and strict money management guidelines called a Black Box program or system, this implies that the trading logic is encrypted while the rest of systems disclose their rules to customers and researchers. The fund bases techniche is called a trend following approach meaning it is a predetermined program that determined when to buy , when to sell, how long to stay for, and when to add to a position established, this type of trading is also sometimes referred to as non-discretionary meaning it does not allow for human interaction based on so called fundamentals or human emotions.^[9]

[edit] Baseball

John W. Henry grew up a St. Louis Cardinals fan, especially of Stan Musial. After acquiring his fortune, his first foray into professional sports was attempting to head an NHL expansion bid for South Florida in 1990, which ended up going to Tampa Bay, pre-dating South Florida's more successful NHL expansion bid soon after. He entered baseball with his purchase of the Florida Marlins in 1998. After their 2002 season, Henry sold the Marlins in a multi-franchise deal which led to his purchase of the Red Sox. Henry assembled an ownership team with the express goal of winning a championship, a feat accomplished in the 2004 World Series.

[edit] References

"Fielding a dream", Cover story, CME magazine, July 2005, pp. 8. Retrieved on 2006-09-25.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• List of Articles/News that John has been featured in
• John W Henry featured at Street Stories
• John W Henry founded company, iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations

[edit] Further reading