The publication was based in 2001 by Russell Wassendorf, a notable government within the futures brokerage trade who ran a big futures dealer known as Peregrine Monetary Group.
SFOmag was principally centered on the technical side of buying and selling versus fundamentals. Which made it fairly uncommon in that respect. There’s probably not a preferred publication at the moment that caters to the technical, price-based dealer. There’s rather more cash in studying the tea-leaves of months-old 13F filings and Elon Musk tweets, I suppose.
Given what number of legendary names within the buying and selling neighborhood contributed to SFOmag, it’s an actual travesty they shutdown the way in which they did.
The journal featured notable contributors like:
- Larry Williams
- Brett Steenbarger
- John J. Murphy
- Larry McMillan
- Jack Schwager
- Linda Bradford Raschke
- Tom DeMark
- John Bollinger
- Steve Nison
A venerable who’s who of the buying and selling neighborhood of 10-15 years in the past. All nonetheless fairly related. And but nearly none of it’s accessible anymore.
Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be any full archive of the web site exists wherever. The Wayback Machine has some hyperlinks archived however it’s very incomplete. Many of the journal’s traditional articles are inside out-of-print bodily magazines which will by no means see the sunshine of day once more.
Nonetheless, outdated followers or just curious merchants can purchase outdated problems with the journal on eBay for fairly affordable costs. You can too discover copies of their out-of-print e-book collection SFO Private Investor on Amazon.
There’s a couple of editions of this collection together with an On-line Buying and selling version, that includes interviews with Linda Bradford Raschke, John Carter, and William O’Neil. Additional, there’s a buying and selling psychology e-book that includes interviews with Van Tharp and Brett Steenbarger.
Linda Raschke has one in all her 2005 SFO articles on right here web site right here.
On the floor, you’d suppose SFOmag was merely a melting ice dice. An analog publication in a world that was aggressively pivoting to digital. However actuality is rather more grim.
Actually, SFOmag’s collapse had nothing to do with the profitability or efficiency of the journal in any respect.
You see, SFOmag was owned by financier Russel R. Wasendorf Sr., who additionally ran a big futures brokerage agency Peregrine Monetary Group. Presumably, SFOmag was a instrument to construct Peregrine’s model as a trusted futures dealer.
But it surely seems, Peregrine was an enormous fraud. The story of the agency’s collapse was largely overshadowed by that of MF World, one other futures brokerage agency that cratered simply months prior.
Regulators found that Peregrine didn’t have the capital to satisfy buyer withdrawal requests. The agency had been accepting buyer deposits and never putting them with the financial institution, as required by regulators. As a substitute, CEO Wassendorf had been embezzling deposits. The Nationwide Futures Affiliation discovered that $215 million in Peregrine buyer deposits have been lacking, embezzled by Wassendorf.
Wassendorf tried suicide outdoors of Peregrine’s Iowa headquarters in 2012, confessing to embezzling over 100 million {dollars} in a be aware. DealBook reported:
Simply 9 days after his marriage ceremony, the native police discovered Mr. Wasendorf, the pinnacle of the agency, unconscious in his automotive behind the constructing with a tube operating from the exhaust pipe into the automotive’s inside. An empty bottle of vodka rested by his aspect. He left a suicide be aware suggesting monetary crimes had been dedicated.
In the end, Peregrine was compelled out of business and shut down. Wassendorf was sentenced to 50 years in jail, which is successfully a life sentence on the age of 64.
It took a very long time, however it seems like Peregrine prospects acquired most or all of their a reimbursement.
As for SFOmag, it was shortly offered in a hearth sale to buying and selling schooling web site TraderPlanet, who ceased operations of the journal.
The sale was introduced through Twitter on July 10, 2012:
