REMINISCENCES OF A SOES BANDIT

Day Trading Community Loses Pioneer Harvey Houtkin

Harvey Houtkin, a.k.a., “the father of day trading” has died at 59. The original SOES Bandit was a controversial figure on the Street, but like him or not, it is undeniable that the man paved some early roads for early day traders which ultimately brought us to where we are today.

Some may argue that Wall Street was years ago destined to become more self-directed with the internet gaining popularity and online brokerages coming available, but Houtkin is credited with discovering some of the earliest methods which scalpers used to turn quick profits in the markets via the NASDAQ’s Small Order Execution System (SOES).

Harvey Houtkin was one who helped make the term ‘direct access’ an everyday phrase for those involved in the markets. He also undoubtedly helped start the shift in the commission structure which Wall Street used to utilize. Can you imagine having to phone your broker today to jump in and out of some biotechs, and pay $1 per share in commissions? Ouch - no thanks!

He was a pioneer who started a revolution, and as a Bandit myself I am sure glad he shared his methods with the world and got people thinking in a different way about trading the markets.

Jeff White
President, The Stock Bandit, Inc.




RIP: Harvey Houtkin 1948 - 2008; Controversial "father of daytrading" / SOES bandit dies after surgery; was the hospital at fault?

Harvey Houtkin, the controversial "father of daytrading" and so called "SOES bandit" who showed thousands of daytraders how to exploit the Small Order Execution System (SOES) in the late 1990's, died after what was called "uneventful emergency surgery" in San Diego. Sounds like the hospital where the surgery was done has been in scrapes before, and is being implicated in his death via an anonymous email sent by a hospital doctor to the San Diego Medical Examiner alleging “erroneous, misleading and perhaps fraudulent” information on Houtkin's death certificate.

According to the San Diego Union Tribune:

Harvey Ira Houtkin, 59, who was dubbed “the father of day trading,” died at 9:25 p.m. – several hours after uneventful emergency surgery near his tonsils, according to his medical records. The cause of death was listed as natural: acute respiratory failure from a severe airway obstruction.

The medical examiner, Dr. Glenn Wagner, declined to do an autopsy because hospital officials linked the death to Houtkin's medical history, which included diabetes and a tonsillar abscess. Houtkin's body was flown to Florida, where he lived.

But on Wednesday, Wagner revisited the case after a Sharp Grossmont physician anonymously sent an e-mail to him alleging that the surgeon who signed Houtkin's death certificate gave “erroneous, misleading and perhaps fraudulent” information.