Lex van Dam (born Drachten,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in June 1968) is a Dutch investment manager, investor, and writer specialising in

trading Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

equities In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

, currencies and

financial derivative In finance, a derivative is a contract that ''derives'' its value from the performance of an underlying entity. This underlying entity can be an asset, index, or interest rate, and is often simply called the "underlying". Derivatives can be u ...

s. He lives in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Born in a small town in

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

, van Dam studied

econometrics Econometrics is the application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...

and

investments Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is ...

at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is th ...

. His professional career began in 1992, trading stocks for Goldman Sachs where he worked for ten years, latterly as head of the equities proprietary trading desk. After that he ran money at GLG which, at the time, was Europe's largest hedge fund. Since 2007 he has been a hedge fund manager at Hampstead Capital LLP, London. In 2009, van Dam featured in a three-part series on BBC2, entitled '' Million Dollar Traders'' that aimed to educate eight ordinary people about the stock market, in a re-creation of the famous "turtle trader" experiment of Richard Dennis in the 1980s. Van Dam put up the sterling equivalent of $1 million of his own money for the novices to trade with over the course of eight weeks. As with the original experiment, those who lasted the course broadly confirmed the claim that novices could become professional-level traders, making small profits or at least lower losses trading in very turbulent markets during the filming than professionals, who lost four times greater amounts over the same period.Learning to trade at the school of hard knocks ''The Financial Times'' 19 Nov 2010
Van Dam set up the experiment to encourage the public to take greater control of their personal finances in the wake of the global

financial crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and man ...

. Later that year, a companion book ''How to Make Money Trading'' was released in order to expand on the trading techniques featured in the television series. In November 2010, he launched The Lex van Dam Trading Academy which aims to teach people how to trade and invest in the stock market based on his 5-Step-Trading® methodology.Financieel Dagblad
/ref> Together with David Winner he translated a book about the football player

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a ...

, entitled ''Ajax, Barcelona, Cruyff, The ABC of a destinate Maestro'' by Frits Barend and Henk van Dorp.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dam, Lex Van 1968 births Living people Dutch financial writers Dutch hedge fund managers Dutch investors Dutch stock traders Goldman Sachs people People from Drachten University of Groningen alumni