BIO

BIO
Arbor at Kensington Palace in Winter. Photo by EE Peters.

Edgar E. Peters has been an investment professional and researcher for over 40 years.  As an early quant he pioneered many of the methods used for asset allocation and market analysis.  He has also published a significant amount of research.  Peters was one of the first researchers to apply fractals, chaos theory and complexity to markets.  In 1994 he formulated the Fractal Market Hypothesis.  This led to a stream of research tied to cycles and regimes which is the focus of his current work and this site.

Work History

Fractal Market Cycles and Regimes: January 2023 - Present

Founder

First Quadrant, LLC: June 2008 - December 2022

Managing Partner, Co-Director of Global Macro Research, and Portfolio Manager  of Multi-Asset strategies                                                                                          

PanAgora Asset Management:  August 1985 - May 2007

Chief Investment Officer, Chief Investment Strategist, Head of Tactical Asset Allocation, Portfolio Manager

Interactive Data Corporation:  January 1981 - July 1985

Product Manager of Quantitative Products, Consultant for Insurance Companies and Brokerage Firms

Mutual Benefit Life:  June 1974 - December 1980

Equity Analyst/Trader, Applications Programmer

Publications (full list here)

Books

"Chaos and Order in the Capital Markets" Wiley 1991 and 1996

  • "The bible of market chaologists." - Business Week
  • "It ranks among the most provocative financial books of the last few years." - Financial Analysts Journal

"Fractal Market Analysis" Wiley 1994

  • Contains the Fractal Market Hypothesis which has been shown by academic studies to explain investor behavior during the Tech Bubble of 2000 and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.
  • "We show that the most turbulent times of the Global Financial Crisis can be very well characterized by . . . the assertions of the fractal markets hypothesis." - L. Kristoufek, "Fractal Markets Hypothesis and the Global Financial Crisis: Wavelet Power Evidence" Scientific Reports 2013

"Patterns in the Dark: Understanding Risk and Financial Crisis with Complexity Theory" (also published as "Complexity, Risk and Financial Markets" in paperback) Wiley 1999

  • "Ed Peters takes our most cherished beliefs, turns them upside down, and convinces us that they're much better that way." - Ian Stewart

Also contributions to several anthologies

Selected Papers

"Simple and Complex Market Inefficiencies: Integrating Efficient Markets,  Behavioral Finance and Complexity" The Journal of Behavioral Finance, 2003

"A Chaotic Attractor for the S&P 500" Financial Analysts Journal, 1991

"Fractal Structure in the Capital Markets" Financial Analysts Journal, 1989

"Hedged Equity Portfolios: Components of Risk and Return" Advances in Futures and Options Research, 1986

"The Growing Efficiency of Index Futures Markets" Journal of Portfolio  Management, 1985

Also published numerous articles in trade journals and magazines.