Team

David Martin is MFM’s Chief Investment Officer and is responsible for all trading decisions and portfolio management.

David founded New York-based MFM in 2013 after a multi-decade derivatives trading career as a proprietary trader and market maker at the New York Board of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange.

David has traded across futures markets, with a focus on macro-directional options strategies based on probabilistic, statistical, and fundamental inputs, which are expressed through proprietary trade structures designed to limit tail-risk.

David’s central investment thesis is that the price behavior of commodity markets is distorted by two factors: the cognitive biases of humans, and trading algorithms that emulate human thought.

Because of this, price behavior may not function as fundamentals would normally suggest. David believes that increasing open interest, big data, and more participants all equate to greater future opportunities.

From this perspective, David believes that MFM has a significant edge in a “post-fundamental paradigm” using option structures to create unique and asymmetric risk-reward profiles.

David further maintains that current price distortions, market dislocations, and increased volatility all equate to opportunity, and not obstacles.

Over his career, decision science, game theory, options theory, and fundamental analysis have all played a role in David’s thesis development.

David started his career at Cooper Neff & Associates, an elite quantitative derivatives trading firm, where David traded the firm’s proprietary capital.

David holds a B.S. in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in Decision Sciences and Information Technology.

The risk of loss in trading commodity interests can be substantial. You should therefore carefully consider whether such trading is suitable in light of your financial condition.

Lucas is MFM’s Senior Research Analyst and is responsible for research activities and portfolio monitoring.

Prior to employment at Martin Fund Management, Lucas worked as an Economics Research Assistant at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. where he conducted in-depth research on Chinese capital markets. Lucas has previously worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Lucas holds a B.A. in Public Policy from the University of Chicago where he specialized in Finance and Investments.

Paul Wankmueller, CMT is MFM’s Director of Business Development and has over 20 years of investment experience.

Paul began his career working as a research analyst with 816 Partners (founded by Michael Marks, Chairman Emeritus, NYMEX), and assisted in ultimately constructing a bid for the then-private NYMEX.

After witnessing the trading pits firsthand, Paul continued his journey in the NYBOT Coffee Options Pit, progressing to trade futures and options electronically for the next 7 years for Prime International Trading.

Next Paul went on to become a senior commodity market analyst for ICE, garnering the CMT designation and becoming the Atlanta Chapter Chair while tenured there.

Most recently, under the guidance of Bill Baruch, founder and President of Chicago-based Blue Line Futures, Paul returned to serving a book of clients as a Series 3 licensed Director of Content & Education, fueling his passion to educate investors in the commodity options space.

As an assistant editor of the world-renowned Journal of Technical Analysis, Paul has been featured on TD Ameritrade Network, Bloomberg, and TradingView, as well as serving as co-host for the Macro Corner Podcast.  Paul currently resides in Palm Beach.