Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
Larry Williams
The Montana-born commodity trader, indicator inventor and trading author (born 6 Oct 1942) whose name is attached to the most quoted number in retail futures trading — 11,376% (the ending balance as a percentage of the start — the gain is ~11,276%; the organiser says "subject to final audit"), the return he reported in the 1987 World Cup Championship of Futures Trading run by Robbins Trading Company, turning $10,000 into ~$1.14m in twelve months — and to Williams %R, the overbought/oversold oscillator he made public in 1973. He ran twice for the US Senate in Montana as a Republican (1978, 1982), wrote a shelf of books from How I Made One Million Dollars … Last Year … Trading Commodities (Windsor Books, 1979 per Wikipedia; written 1973 per his own site) to Long-Term Secrets to Short-Term Trading (Wiley, first edition 1999), built a long-running seminar and education business, and saw his daughter Michelle win the same contest in 1997 (1,001%). In Feb 2010 federal tax-evasion charges against him were dropped and he pleaded guilty to three misdemeanours of failing to file returns on time (Wikipedia, citing United States v. Williams, S.D. Cal.). He is this KB's standard case of contest returns versus repeatable edge: a real-money result that is genuinely extraordinary, and a single account in a single year that says little about what his published methods earn in other hands.
At a glance
- Born
- 6 Oct 1942, Miles City, Montana (Wikipedia); journalism degree, University of Oregon, 1964 (Wikipedia)
- Type
- Individual futures trader; author, indicator designer and trading educator; no fund or CTA record found by this batch. This profile has five moves (rule 6 allows 5–7 for individuals): his documented decisions are a handful of publications, two contest entries in the family and one legal case
- Markets
- US futures — stock-index (S&P 500), Treasury bonds, currencies, grains, metals (as described in his books — from memory, verify the 1987 mix)
- Scale (dated, reported)
- 1987 contest account $10,000 → $1,137,600 in twelve months, 11,376% of the start, a ~11,276% gain (Wikipedia, citing Robbins Trading Company's World Cup page archived 2010; the current organiser's home page repeats 11,376% "net") — one account, own money
- Contest record
- 1987 winner (11,376%); daughter Michelle 1997 winner (1,001% per a 2025–26 ranking page; "~1,000%" elsewhere). The 1987 result is the contest's highest winning year by a wide margin — ~9× the next best (1985, Ralph Casazzone, 1,283%) and against a median winning year of ~252% (completetradersedge.com ranking, secondary)
- Writings
- How I Made One Million Dollars … Last Year … Trading Commodities (Windsor Books; 1979 per Wikipedia and StoneX, "written in 1973" per williamspercentr.com; later editions 1998); The Secret of Selecting Stocks for Immediate and Substantial Gains (Windsor, 1986); The Definitive Guide to Futures Trading I–II (Windsor, 1988); The Mount Sinai Myth (Carol, 1990); Long-Term Secrets to Short-Term Trading (Wiley; first edition 1999 — V4; Wikipedia's 1998 looks wrong); Confessions of a Radical Tax Protestor (Wiley, 2011)
- Indicators
- Williams %R (used from 1966, published 1973 — his site); the Ultimate Oscillator (date unconfirmed — verify); COT-based indices; seasonal and cycle forecasts (Wikipedia; his sites)
- Regulators and courts
- No CFTC or NFA disciplinary action against him found by this batch (CFTC search and press search, Nov 2026; NFA BASIC could not be queried automatically — verify in BASIC); federal tax case United States v. Williams, No. 3:06-cr-00787-H (S.D. Cal.): tax-evasion counts dropped, guilty pleas to three misdemeanour counts of failing to file on time for 1999–2001, 5 Feb 2010 (Wikipedia)
- Politics
- Republican nominee for US Senate in Montana: lost to Max Baucus 1978 (44% to 56%) and to John Melcher 1982 (42% to 54%) (Wikipedia, citing Montana Secretary of State canvasses)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Williams %R and the "million dollar" book (1973–79); the 1987 World Cup (11,376%); Michelle Williams's 1997 win; Long-Term Secrets to Short-Term Trading (1999) as a published system book; the IRS case and the 2010 plea
5 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1973
Williams Percent R and the Million Dollar Book
New strategy or product — publication of an indicator and a trading book with an income claim in its title
1987
Robbins World Cup 11376 Percent
Large trade or position / contest entry (reported result)
1997
Michelle Williams Contest Win
Contest entry (reported result) / evidence problem
1998
Long Term Secrets to Short Term Trading
New strategy or product — a published book of short-term futures trading rules
2010
IRS Case and Misdemeanor Plea
Regulatory, enforcement or legal action (tax) — failure