Other People's Money with Max Wiethe Beating Bitcoin at Scale with Directional Crypto Strategies | Sam Gaer of Monarq Asset Management
Dec 9, 2025
Sam Gaer, CIO of Directional Strategies at Monarq Asset Management and a pioneer in electronic trading systems, shares his insights on outperforming Bitcoin using quantitative strategies. He discusses the implications of recent market volatility and institutional demand for crypto hedge funds. Sam recounts his transition from traditional finance to crypto, emphasizing the importance of relationships in the evolving landscape. He highlights crypto's potential for scalability and offers a comparative analysis of investment strategies between traditional finance and crypto.
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The Four-Year Cycle Isn’t Deterministic
- The four-year cycle might still be intact, but broader structural drivers and institutional flows argue for cautious optimism.
- Watch macro, tokenization, and funding internals as cycle signals rather than deterministic timers.
From Floor Runner To Exchange Technologist
- Sam started as a runner at age 15 and worked summers on the trading floor, which hooked him on markets.
- That early pit experience shaped his adherence to the trader's code: your word is your bond.
Selling Tech To NYMEX Changed His Career
- Sam built exchange technology, sold it to NYMEX, then became their CIO and led migration from open outcry to electronic trading.
- That work taught him cultural, regulatory, and systems lessons about modernization at scale.
