"I spend a lot of time thinking about the philosophy behind what's driving the markets and what's driving our human minds." Estlander & Partners - The Oldest CTA firm in Scandinavia and one of the Longest Running CTA firms in the World. Thank you for listening to episode 007 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 "It was great to be in the evolution of the derivatives market in Europe." 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 "One of the big conclusions we've drawn is the fact that the volatility environment is so important in describing the returns and the return opportunities" 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 options trading and market making history has dominated our DNA as traders to quite an extent." 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 "There are many parallels between trading and the way the mind works. The way we are designed as human beings with our emotions and our reactions, our instincts, etc. actually is what drives the markets in a way which makes it possible for systematic strategies to make money." Resources & Links Mentioned in this Episode: Learn about Commodities Corporation, the company behind some of the all-time great traders Sponsored by Swiss Financial Services and Saxo Bank: Connect with Estlander & Partners: Visit the Website: www.estlanderpartners.com Phone: +358 (0) 20 7613 300 E-mail: info@estlanderpartners.fi Follow Estlander & Partners on Facebook & Linkedin