Partner Communities
Each of our partners studied under Dr. Tharp at one point in their career, and they are very familiar with the concepts, methods, and Tharp Think principles that he taught.
Most have been students or teaching partners at the Van Tharp Institute for many years and have a passion for teaching and helping others.
They are excellent resources for trading education and for staying engaged with other traders.
We invite you to explore and join their communities.
Ken Long, Ph.D.
Ken Long brings his passion for leadership and teaching into the field of trading where he is a successful professional trader, an accomplished systems developer, and an internationally respected trading coach. He is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel with 25 years of active service. He holds a doctorate in management from Colorado Tech University and is an Associate Professor, US Army Command & General Staff College. In addition to his distinguished career and technical achievements, Ken is also a thoughtful and generous gentleman.
Ken has been a long-time student, strategic partner, and friend of Dr. Van Tharp. They met in the 1990s and Ken studied closely with Van for almost 20 years systematically incorporating numerous Tharp Think principles into his trading.
In 1999, Ken founded Tortoise Capital Management which takes a descriptive statistics-based approach to global equity market analysis focusing on capturing low risk, high reward recurring opportunities that provide individual traders with a robust edge. Shortly after forming Tortoise Capital, Ken began his 20+ year tenure teaching at the Van Tharp Institute.
Intuitive Systems Thinker
The first workshop he taught was his monthly ETF switching system – a system that he had been trading successfully for several years. ETFs were still relatively new at the time and Ken had evolved the system out of a mutual fund switching system he had been trading for years. As an intuitive systems thinker, Ken noticed that his monthly system offered interesting opportunities on a weekly basis so he began codifying the patterns that he saw and figured out ways to profit from these swing trades. He started keeping statistics on all aspects of his trading and then started applying statistics to the charts he monitored. He uses statistics to describe and understand what the chart is saying – rather than to predict where the price is going. As a result, Ken has modified several well-known technical indicators as well as invented some of his own. Ken taught his statistical approach at his swing trading systems workshops which ran for many years. Ken was then noticing interesting shorter-term opportunities presented by his swing systems. In time, he developed into an accomplished day trader. He went on to teach his day trading systems for many years at VTI as well.
Ken supported Van in other workshops and was a regular speaker and the annual Super Trader Summits. He introduced Van to the area of systems thinking and Van was keen to observe that Ken’s systems thinking abilities were a primary source of Ken’s success over several decades in the markets. Ken had evolved himself and his systems as the complex dynamic systems that markets are also evolved. Van came to believe that to succeed long term in the markets, traders needed to develop their systems thinking abilities. He enrolled Ken’s help to create a systems thinking workshop which he required his Super Traders to attend.
Innovative and Evolving Systems
Ken’s trading business, Tortoise Capital, currently continues to develop complex trading systems focusing on short and intermediate-term trading opportunities that use Exchange Traded Funds, large-cap stocks, and futures contracts. Ken teaches his market approach methods, well-developed trading systems, as well as his latest innovations through Tortoise Capital programs.
Ken lives by the maxim: “If you are a teacher, show me your students’ work . . .” His students’ trading records and their new trading courses are a testament to his effective leadership. Ken specializes in hybrid teaching and heavily utilizes accountability groups in his programs to help traders learn the trading material together in a cohort. Traders develop their skills through hands-on trading and coaching from Ken and from their accountability group. Many of VTI’s Super Traders studied under Ken, developed successful systems of their own, and became successful traders. Some of them have gone on to become successful trading educators as well.
Register and See Why
To join Ken’s trading community, click the link below and navigate to Register in the upper left section of his website. You’ll soon get to see why traders value his vast resources and come together so often to learn, grow, and connect as a community of creative thinkers and like-minder traders.
Gabriel Grammatidis
Gabriel enrolled in our original Super Trader program in 2008, and graduated just two years later, before he professionally began trading the Futures, Forex and Crypto markets full-time.
One of Van's most ambitious and accomplished graduates, Gabriel has more than 35 years of trading experience. Though Gabriel had a very successful corporate career at PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors, he followed his dream of being an independent trader, trader coach & system developer.
He offers systems workshops and well-structured group mentoring programs based on Deliberate Practice and Tharp Think principles.
As a professional trader, Gabriel holds a unique mission: “To develop successful trader talent within less than a year!”. And he regularly does so . . .
D.R. Barton, Jr.
D.R. worked and taught with Van Tharp since the ‘90s and contributed to three different books with Van.
D.R. Barton, Jr. has helped thousands master the powerful trading techniques that professionals use. He is co-author of New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling book “Safe Strategies for Financial Freedom.” He is a regular analyst on Fox Business, CNBC, Bloomberg Radio, and has been featured on MarketWatch, SmartMoney, and the Van Tharp Institute.
D.R. helped run a boutique hedge fund for 10 years and is currently working with Dr. Richard Smith on cutting-edge institutional-quality risk management tools.
Libby Adams, Ph.D.
Libby has been a partner at VTI since 2004. She taught the Peak Performance 202 workshop with Dr. Tharp for many years and in later years with RJ Hixson. Her 28-day consulting program has also been part of the Super Trader Program curriculum throughout those 20 years. Why?
Years ago, Van realized that Libby’s Transformational Consulting Process was the perfect way for him to address his goals, and the results were amazing. Van said:
“I think it is one of the most important and significant things I have done. My strongest goal this year was to increase my spiritual connection so that I could be sure that what I was doing was in alignment with that.”
Anyone can benefit from instruction that creates a rapid and effective increase of their spiritual connection. Most people are accustomed to only using their conscious or subconscious minds, but it is actually the SUPERCONSCIOUS MIND that is the Secret Sauce of the Spiritual Connection that results in Peak Performance.
Once established, that Spiritual Connection can be utilized to achieve goals, to resolve issues that are blocking the achievement of those goals, and it can even be used for personal guidance when making decisions. Dr. Adams has logged over 50,000 hours of this type of one-on-one coaching since she started the Academy of Self-Knowledge in 1994.
By now, most people recognize the fact that we can't solve a problem with the same level of consciousness we used to create the problem. So, how DO we solve it if we keep doing the same ineffective thing over and over? More specifically, how do you stop the incessant mind chatter, fear, greed and impatience, paralysis of analysis and other problematic behaviors, etc. that arise when you’re trading that you’ve been trying to resolve on your own?
Only through accessing the higher levels of consciousness (Superconscious Mind/ Spiritual Connection) can you find a new solution to these problems, including resolving all of your trading issues, which is why Dr. Tharp dedicated so much time to the psychological aspect of trading. He also knew that increasing spiritual connection is a powerful “edge.”
So, in reality, TWO systems are needed for effective and consistently profitable trading. First, you need a positive expectancy trading system, of course, and you can find that through some of the VTI home study courses and other VTI partners.
But secondly, you MUST also have a powerful and effective Trading Psychology System. Libby’s 28-day consulting program is a one-of-a-kind trading psychology system that uses the four pillars needed for trading success and for avoiding the pain and frustration of trading defeat.
Additionally, because of this system’s unique structure and personalized, one-on-one daily coaching approach, traders also see improvement in every area of life, including personal and professional relationships.
Graduates of this program consistently report that they experience an enhanced ability to navigate life’s challenges and setbacks with resilience, adaptability, and a positive mindset. They have an increased sense of love and freedom, fostering inner peace, happiness, and overall well-being.
Bill Scheidt
Bill was a member of the Super Trader Program with Van. Later he teamed up with Jeff Boccaccio, and both continued their trading education with Ken Long.
Bill Scheidt has more than 15 years of experience trading stocks, options, commodities and crypto. He credits his participation in the Van Tharp Institute's Super Trader program as the transformational experience that galvanized his journey to becoming a successful trader.
Jeff Boccaccio
Jeff has over 20 years of experience in the financial sector having worked for Deloitte Consulting, UBS and Barclays Capital across the US, Switzerland and London. He has a broad range of skills combining a strong background in information technology with financial market analysis and trading.
Bill and Jeff started The Systems Lab as a way of educating traders about well-researched systems and equipping them with the tools and resources necessary for market success.
Ron William
Ron is a Market Strategist, with +20-years of experience, working for leading economic Research & Institutional firms; producing macro research and trading strategies. He specializes in blended, top-down, semi-discretionary analysis, driven by cycles and proprietary timing models.
Ron is an active teacher and mentor – as a leader in his professional work and global educational societies that set the benchmark study of his discipline.
Ron studied Peak Performance models under Van, and as a partner he taught Scenario Planning in VUCA Times.
Chuck Whitman
Chuck Whitman, a businessman, investor, trader, teacher, and coach, has been a student of Dr. Tharp since 1998. Chuck completed Dr. Tharp’s Basic Trader program in 2000. From 2001-2004, Chuck taught an options workshop for VTI. In 2005, he wrote the forward for the second edition of Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom. In 2018, he and partner Mark Boucher began teaching their Reeds System workshop for VTI. Chuck also led the Options Matrix workshop for VTI during the recent period. Both workshops were predecessors to courses now offered by Sharpe Coach.
Starting at the age of 17, Chuck worked at the Chicago Board of Trade while attending college. Chuck began trading at the age of 22 and trained over thirty people to become successful full-time traders. Many of them when on to become some of the largest traders at the CBOT and multi-millionaires.
In 2001, Chuck was co-founder and CEO of Infinium Capital Management, one of the largest proprietary trading firms in the United States. Infinium was a pioneer in Electronic Options Market Making and Swaps trading and the largest exchange-traded Commodity Swap and Option Market Making Firm in the United States. The firm averaged over $120M a year in revenue from 2007 to 2012 and was recognized as one of the top companies to work for in Chicago due to the company culture. While at Infinium, Chuck continued to work on developing strong, full-time traders. Many of the 150 people he trained quickly took off to become top traders in their respective asset classes.
Chuck sold his ownership in Infinium Capital Management in June 2013 to build Whitman Asset Management (WAM), LLC. WAM is a Global Macro trading firm that combines discretionary and systematic approaches through its proprietary analytical platform, Einstein. As a commodity trading advisory firm, WAM was a finalist for CTA Intelligence Top New CTA and Top CTA with Assets under $40M in 2015.
In 2018, Chuck and his wife, Brynn, launched Sharpe Coach LLC. While at Sharpe Coach, Chuck launched four separate education lines: Five Pillars of Infinite Wealth, Reed$Trader, Options Matrix, and Trading Matrix.
Five Pillars of Infinite Wealth is the foundation for every investor/trader. Chuck teaches the necessary mindset and framework to create a life where passive income is greater than monthly expenses. The Five Pillars Model teaches students how to live the life they want now while still building wealth in the future.
Reed$Trader is a methodology for trading stocks and stock indexes taught by renowned Macro Trader, Mark Boucher. The Reed$trader Method combines rigorous stock selection with timing models for the US Stock Market. Reed$trader creates superior risk adjusted returns for equities markets than any other service or fund offering.
The Options Matrix teaches students how to reduce their required capital, reduce risk, increase income, create much larger winning trades, and create uncorrelated strategies all using options. Chuck’s experience in options trading helped him create a unique framework for how to think about option strategies, risks, and returns.
The Trading Matrix line offers a framework for how to think about and analyze markets. Over years of trading and research, Chuck created the Ten Irrefutable Laws of Trading Success which utilizes a combination of time-tested principles used by some of the top traders in history. The Method introduces students to our technical analysis framework which incorporates the Ten Irrefutable Laws of Trading Success. Mastering the Trading Matrix will equip you to be one of the top traders in the business.