Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
Mark Minervini
The self-taught US stock trader who won the stock division of the US Investing Championship in 1997 (+155%, on $250,000 of his own money) and the $1,000,000+ stock division in 2021 (+334.8%, then a contest record), was profiled in Jack Schwager's Stock Market Wizards (2001) with a reported ~220% a year over about five years, and codified his growth-stock method — SEPA ("specific entry point analysis") and the VCP ("volatility contraction pattern") — in Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard (McGraw-Hill, 2013). His public record is better than most retail-system authors' because two of its pieces are real-money contest results checked against brokerage statements; it is still not an audited, all-accounts record, and his method has no independent test (Momentum Growth Swing Trading (SEPA / VCP), grade D). The least-told part of his story is a regulatory one: in 1995–96 Connecticut's Banking Commissioner denied the investment-adviser registration of his firm, Quantech Research Group, and his own agent registration, made a cease-and-desist order permanent, and alleged he had made false or misleading statements about a prior connection with William O'Neil and Company; a state court affirmed the denial in Oct 1996 (Connecticut Department of Banking bulletins, primary).
At a glance
- Born / based
- US; Connecticut in the 1990s (addresses in Hamden and West Haven in state filings, 1995–96); birth year and later base not confirmed here (verify)
- Type
- Individual trader (long-biased US growth stocks), author and trading educator. This profile has six moves (rule 6 allows 5–7 for individuals): his documented decisions are a firm, two contests, a profile in a book, his own books, and an education business
- Markets
- US-listed growth stocks, mostly long, sometimes on margin (the contest's stock division permits leverage, short sales and option writing — contest rules, 2026 page)
- Scale (dated, reported)
- 1997 contest: +155% on $250,000 (contest record listing as reproduced by CTE Research; press release, 25 Jan 2022); 2021 contest: +334.8% in the $1,000,000+ stock division (press release, 25 Jan 2022) — the account's size is above $1m by the division's rule, not disclosed; Schwager (2001): ~220% a year compounded over the five-plus years before his 1999 interview, with a maximum quarterly loss of a fraction of 1% (publisher's description; not audited)
- Regulatory record
- Connecticut (primary, DOB bulletins Sep 1995, Mar 1996, Dec 1996): Notice of Intent to Deny and cease-and-desist order, 25 Jul 1995 (Docket ND/CD-95-4064-S); final order 18 Jan 1996 denying both registrations and finding wilful unregistered adviser business; Superior Court affirmed 25 Oct 1996 (CV96 053324S). FINRA BrokerCheck and SEC IAPD searches (Nov 2026) return no current record for him or a "Minervini" firm. No SEC, CFTC or FINRA action found
- Writings
- Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard (McGraw-Hill, 2013); Think & Trade Like a Champion (2017, publisher verify); Mindset Secrets for Winning (Access Publishing Group, 2019 per a retailer listing — one blog says 2023; verify)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Quantech and the Connecticut denial (1993–96); the 1997 championship; Stock Market Wizards (2001); the 2013 book and SEPA/VCP; the books-and-workshops business (2017–); the 2021 record and its 2024 eclipse
6 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1993
Quantech Research and the Connecticut Denial
Founding of a firm / regulatory, enforcement or legal action
1997
US Investing Championship 155 Percent
Large trade or position (a contest account run for a calendar year)
2001
Stock Market Wizards and the 220 Percent Claim
Track-record disclosure (to an author) / evidence problem
2013
Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard SEPA and VCP
New strategy, product or market (publication of a trading method)
2017
Books Workshops and the Education Business
Strategy pivot / revenue model (education, subscriptions and events alongside own-account trading)
2021
US Investing Championship Record 334 Percent
Large trade or position (contest account for calendar 2021)