Martin S. Schwartz, known in the stock trade as Buzzy, is a formidable day trader who serves as example to virtually all aspiring stock traders. His first year as an independent stock trader netted him $600,000; he doubled this figure in the following year. Schwartz is quoted as revealing that he used to make about $70,000 per day trading, and on one day he actually netted several million dollars. As his frenetic trading consumed his life, a health related wakeup call forced him to slow down, and he has lived in a self imposed semi retirement and only participates in scaled backed trading from his Florida home.
Martin Schwartz began his career with an education from Amherst College and later on Columbia University. After a stint in the United States Marine Corps, he went to work as a financial analyst for E.F. Hutton. Once he saved up $100,000, he quit and used the money to buy himself into the American Stock Exchange as an active but independent trader.
Schwartz became a formidable trader who worked with options, futures as well as stocks. After 12 months of trading independently, he reported earnings of $600,000; a year later, it was twice that. Fellow traders soon began to notice the frenzied pace with which he changed positions and that he never held on long to any financial instrument. This earned him the moniker of “day trader.”
Not shy about his fiscal prowess, Martin Schwartz participated in the U.S. Trading Championship that was organized by Stanford University and which consisted of nine matches. Held in 1984 – at the onset of the day trading craze – he made a spectacular showing and beat out the other participants by earning more money than his competitors did together. This led to the adoption of the day trading model not only by a good many independent traders, but also by do it yourself dabblers at home.
It is noteworthy that in a 1998 interview Schwartz alluded to the fact that the market –which was at an all-time high – was likely to have reached a cusp and thus was due for a market correction.
Before long this highly successful businessman found himself addicted to the heady thrill of buying and selling at lighting speed, and nearly sacrificed his health and life in the process. Martin Schwartz detailed his accomplishments and also his failures in the book entitled “Pit Bull: Lessons from Wall Street’s Champion Day Trader.”
At this point he lives in self imposed semi retirement and trades in a limited capacity from his Florida home.
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