Saturday, February 18, 2012

Genetic Determinism, Wall Street Traders Edition

A Combination of Dopamine Genes Predicts Success by Professional Wall Street Traders

Steve Sapra, Laura Beavin & Paul Zak
PLoS ONE, January 2012, e30844

Abstract: What determines success on Wall Street? This study examined if genes affecting dopamine levels of professional traders were associated with their career tenure. Sixty professional Wall Street traders were genotyped and compared to a control group who did not trade stocks. We found that distinct alleles of the dopamine receptor 4 promoter (DRD4P) and catecholamine-O-methyltransferase (COMT) that affect synaptic dopamine were predominant in traders. These alleles are associated with moderate, rather than very high or very low, levels of synaptic dopamine. The activity of these alleles correlated positively with years spent trading stocks on Wall Street. Differences in personality and trading behavior were also correlated with allelic variants. This evidence suggests there may be a genetic basis for the traits that make one a successful trader.


There may be. But I bet not.

5 comments:

Joel said...

Check with Evan to see why this is so stupid!!!!

Technology Consultant said...

Some how people tend to map or relate success factor to genes

Joseph said...

Sample size 60? Wake me up when they have real data.

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