The Soaring Pelican Blended Advantage program began trading client funds in June of 2021. It was created to address a phenomenon that Mr. Michalek and Mr. Beckers identified, specifically that ideal trading conditions tend to migrate between the intraday and multi-day time frames. To profit from this theory the Blended Advantage program was created, combining the intraday and multiday programs in a way designed to maximize return and minimize volatility. Market volatility is the main driver of all short term programs. When volatility is low, holding periods should increase because cycles in the market have lengthened. As this occurs intraday trading becomes unfavorable since a trade may need to hold past the intraday time frame in order to become profitable. In times of high volatility, both daily and intraday periods are often profitable. The principals have invested a significant portion of their net assets in this program and believe that it best embodies the summation of their expertise.

Founded in 2011 Soaring Pelican is an alternative investment manager dedicated to creating unique returns for clients through non-traditional investment strategies.

Soaring Pelican management comprises of over four decades of combined experience researching, developing and implementing innovative investment solutions. What makes us different is our proprietary methodology which quantifies market behavior and evaluates opportunities from a statistical standpoint. This analysis is augmented with strict risk management techniques and precise execution.

We are traders and researchers first, with our own accounts taking the same trades as our clients. Our primary objective is to enhance the returns of our clients and our own investment portfolios by creating return diversity with low correlation to other investments. The firm’s clients over the years have included high net worth individuals, fund of funds, wealth advisors and family offices.

Samuel Beckers was introduced to trading the financial markets during the dot-com boom in San Francisco in the late 1990’s. His mentors were seasoned hedge fund managers that guided his growth and emphasized certain key elements of success. In a short period of time, financial markets experienced unprecedented volatility that educated Mr. Beckers in a variety of market conditions.

Sam began to research liquid markets for short term trading, searching for a consistent, profitable trading advantage. By 2005, observations in his research had led to a fundamental breakthrough which changed the way he viewed markets. Primarily this breakthrough involved looking at account growth from a “risk first” perspective. A year later, he began managing a limited partnership which capitalized on risk management and a unique proprietary trading methodology.

Further refinement and evolution of the methodology naturally led to the futures market and the establishment of the Diversified S&P Program in January, 2011. The program continues to operate after many years using the original concepts, which have repeatedly proven themselves over time.
Mr. Beckers is a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA), holds a Series 7 designation, and holds a BA in International Business from San Diego State University in California. His passions include all ocean related activities, musical endeavors, spending time with his wife and 2 children, and enjoying the natural beauty of home on Vancouver Island in Canada.


Dario Michalek is partner and Chief Investment Officer of Soaring Pelican and has approximately twenty five years investing experience in stock, options and futures markets and has developed multiple trading strategies based on extensive market behavioral research. He formed Neptune Investing in 2005 and managed client accounts until joining forces with Soaring Pelican in June 2019.

From November 2002 to May 2007 he served as head analyst for Vision Investing Group, LLC a financial newsletter publisher that provides trading education, training and research. Mr. Michalek prepared in-depth analysis reports on S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 stocks for individual and institutional clients. From August 1999 until October 2002 Mr. Michalek was employed by Mapleton Capital Management, LLC a prop-trading house that developed trading strategies and conducted trade research. Mr. Michalek was hired to perform research on trading systems and tested thousands of ideas both with computers and manually.

Mr. Michalek is a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA), holds a Series 65 designation. Mr. Michalek resides in Utah with his wife Lori and their six children. He is an avid chess player and a practitioner of the Martial Arts. When he is not trading or doing research he enjoys spending time with his family and working out.