Last Updated on September 26, 2023
Do you ever wonder what it is about successful stock investors that makes them unique?
Mark Minervini is a huge name in the stock industry. He is an accomplished American author, investor, and trader whose trading approach has been refined over several decades.
Mark Minervini is a veteran trader with over 35 years of experience and the President and CEO of Minervini Private Access, an investment research firm. He is said to have yielded an incredible performance over his career, including a 33,554% return over five years.
Minervini won the U.S. Investing Championship in 1997 and 2008 with returns of 155% and 218%. He is the author of some popular financial books, including Think and Trade Like a Champion and Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard.
Investors, finance enthusiasts, and traders can learn a lot from his career, and this article will delve into Mark’s professional experience and life to help understand how to start trading like a champion.
Mark Minervini’s Personal Life
Mark Minervini was born on January 22, 1965, in a Christian American family in Queens, New York. He married Elena Minervini on January 12, 2011, and has a daughter.
Minervini is very interested in boxing, bodybuilding, drum playing, karate, and poker. He also has over 400,000 followers on his Twitter account.
Mark Minervini is currently 57 and has been in the trading business for over 38 years. He dropped out of school in 8th grade and started his trading journey in 1983 with just a couple of thousand dollars.
He currently heads Minervini Private Access. He is also an active trader, a trading coach and a public speaker. Over the years, he has established himself as a highly respected authority in the niche.
Mark Minervini’s Career
Mark Minervini started his career at a very young age. He found himself amid a challenging environment with no prior knowledge of the trading world and no mentorship.
One major “Eureka!” moment for Mark was when he read How to Trade in Stocks by Jesse Livermore. It helped him crystalize his trading approach and changed his perception of how markets work.
Mark takes reading very seriously and has a collection of 4,000 books in his library. His books reflect the information he has distilled in his career, making them a valuable knowledge source.
Early Career
Mark began his stock market journey in 1983. He started trading stocks from his New York home with a goal of making $500/month.
The Turning Point
A few years into the industry, he realized his knowledge of fundamental analysis was insufficient to take him to the next level. After six years in the industry without making significant profits, Mark entered his Golden era. Between 1995 and 1999, he is said to have made returns of over 33,554%.
Minervini claims to have started with $20,000. If the return estimations are anything to go by, he would have made around $4.5 million during the period in question.
Around that time, he also won the U.S. Investing Championship in 1997 with a +155%.
This laid the ground for his reputation as a successful trader and also helped him publish his first book: Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard: How to Achieve Super Performance in Stocks in Any Market.
Building His Brand
After winning the U.S. Investing Championship, Minervini got a major career boost. He started receiving requests to advise other traders when he established Minervini Private Access.
He continued trading for himself and refining his trading system. After a while, he published his second book, Think and Trade Like a Champion.
Current Work
Mark remains very active in public. He keeps his followers updated on social media platforms, gives regular interviews, and continuously attends trader workshops and summits.
To date, he continues to trade and help other traders.
Mark Minervini’s Net Worth
Mark has remained focused on perfecting his craft as a trader, which is one of the reasons why he received the famous Market Wizard title.
A testament to his successful career is also the fact that Jack Swagger has featured an interview with him in his “Market Wizards” book – one of the most renowned books in the financial industry.
Putting an exact number for Mark Minervini’s net worth is difficult. But it is estimated that his account size is around $45 million. His revenue from trading services is estimated to be around $23 million. He also holds a $4 million real estate portfolio. All these round up to an estimated net worth of $72 million.
Mark has also gained a lot of popularity through his four published books. However, he notes that the books don’t bring in any significant income, which is why they aren’t used in his net worth estimation.
Mark Minervini’s Trading Strategy
Mark shares that staying disciplined is critical to being a successful trader; otherwise, success is temporary. He believes you can have all the knowledge in the world, the right skills, and even superior intellect, but you will fail without discipline.
Minervini’s trading strategy is a blend of technical and fundamental analysis. His principles are outlined very profoundly in his books, but here is a quick recap.
He starts his day with a pre-assembled strategy. Any stocks he is looking to buy or sell, ideas, pivots, and position management, he has got them all figured out the night before.
Some of his core trading principles include identifying stocks in an upward trajectory. He uses technical tools to identify the trend’s direction. Mark always focuses on buying high-quality stocks.
He looks for stocks with a strong track record of outperforming the market. Moreover, he firmly believes in protecting capital for long-term success in trading and letting winning trades run longer.
The Volatility Contraction Pattern
Mike Minervini’s trading strategy is highly dependent on the Volatility Contraction Pattern (VCP) – an indicator that he has single-handedly created. Many people consider it a chart pattern, but, in fact, there is much more to it.
The VCP is based on the idea that after a period of high volatility, the stock price will stabilize and develop a pattern of lower highs and higher lows.
Mark developed the pattern to help people find the right information. The VCP helps explain the so-called “cheat areas,” which are basically consolidation areas that show potential buying opportunities.
The cheat areas occur when the stock price consolidates for a few days or weeks before embracing an upward trend.
The VCP is considered more of an effect rather than a cause. This means it results from changes in the market sentiment, supply and demand dynamics.
It is worth noting that the VCP is a very complex tool. Using it optimally requires a lot of experience and skills. However, it is a valuable instrument that you can take advantage of to explore buying opportunities with high-profit potential.
Takeaway: A Look Into Mark Minervini’s Career and Life
Mark Minervini is a successful and renowned trader. His knowledge, experience, and discipline have made him a role model for many upcoming traders.
His career reflects the importance of staying focused on your trading strategies and not being swayed by outside opinion or market noise.
His emphasis on risk management and discipline are some of the key takeaways you can take from his successful career as a stock trader.
