This is a piece I wrote and sent to my readers in 2014. I thought I would share it again because it gives you a sense of the trading floor.
As a trader on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE) for more than 10 years, I witnessed and heard many unbelievable trading stories. There were stories of traders risking too much and losing everything, and traders retiring at the age of 25, having made their fortune though skill or luck.
One of the classic stories of luck happened during the crash of 1987. Legend has it that one trader thought he had bought one put on the S&P 500 (the right to short the S&P 500), only to find out many hours later that he had bought 1,000. This lucky mistake netted him well over $10 million!
Another great story came from my old trading company. My former boss, a trading veteran of nearly 30 years and a millionaire many times over, was as cheap as anyone I’d ever met—in fact, he had never given a raise to a clerk or intern as long the company had been in existence.
One day, my boss and another trader got into a fistfight in the middle of the trading crowd. The fight deteriorated to the point that these two 50-year-old men were rolling on the ground wrestling. The story goes that my boss was in trouble as the other man had pinned him down and was repeatedly punching him in the face. Out of nowhere, my boss’ clerk, a woman no larger than 5’2” and 100 lbs. and whose voice never rose higher than a whisper, picked up a computer monitor and bashed it over the head of my boss’ opponent.
As soon as the trading day ended, my boss walked across the street and withdrew $10,000 in cash and handed out his first-ever bonus.
Clearly, the trading floor is not for the faint of heart. However, for those that excel in the fast-paced world of trading, there’s no better place in the world than the CBOE.