Peter Lewis Brandt

About the Author

Peter Brandt entered the commodity trading business in 1976 with ContiCommodity Services, a division of Continental Grain Company. From his start in the commodity industry, Peter’s goal was to trade proprietary funds. But, he first needed to learn the business.

From 1976 through 1980, Peter handled large institutional accounts for Conti, including Campbell Soup Company, Oro Wheat, Godiva Chocolate, Swanson Foods, Homestake Mining, and others.

In 1980, Peter founded Factor Trading Co., Inc. In his capacity as the CEO, Peter was primarily engaged in trading proprietary funds. Factor Trading also produced market research and managed the trading activities of several large institutional clients. Among Peter’s institutional trading clients was Commodities Corporation (“CC”) of Princeton, NJ, at the time one of the world’s largest trading houses.

In May 1995 Mr. Brandt retired from full-time involvement in the commodity business to pursue not-for-profit interests. Mr. Brandt remained inactive from the commodity trading business until January 2007 when he once again began trading proprietary capital. Peter’s performance as a proprietary trader stands for itself. Consider the following:

• Average annual compounded rate of return (based on IRS tax reporting) = 41.56%
• Average annual compounded rate of return (based on VAMI calculations) = 77.8%
• Growth of initial investment of each $1,000 (through 2009) = $334,817
• Profitable years = 14
• Unprofitable years = 4
• Best year = +604.7%
• Worst year = (8.4%)
• Ratio – size of average profit in profitable years divided by size of average loss in unprofitable years = 7.6 to 1
• Ratio – Total gains in profitable years divided by total losses in unprofitable years = 26.8 to 1

This performance has not come without trials and struggles. Peter has made every mistake in the book, many more than once. The markets are a great teacher, and subject matter has a way of making students wince.

Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader, published by John Wiley and Sons, is Peter’s second book. The first book, Trading Commodity Futures with Classical Chart Patterns, was published in 1990. Peter’s company, Factor LLC, trades proprietary capital and offers research to institutional and speculative clients at FactorTrading.com