OPEN OUTCRY TRADERS HISTORY PROJECT
John J. Lothian & Company, Inc., MarketsWiki Education and John Lothian Productions are pleased to announce plans for a large scale video project to collect the history of the open outcry era and traders’ personal stories.
Additionally, John Lothian Productions plans to develop video documentaries about specific themes and subjects emerging from the collected personal histories.
The project is modeled on the Veterans History Project signed into law by President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. In this case, rather than capturing the experiences of veterans of warfare and conflict, we are capturing the personal market experiences of those who participated in open outcry markets around the world. Traders from Chicago to London to Paris to Sydney to Singapore and beyond are welcome to submit videos.
Those traders interested are asked to fill out this Google Form or email us at OpenOutcry@johnlothian.com for more information.
John Vaile Saw the Potential of Financial Futures and Helped Make Them A Success
John Vaile had an aunt who invested in the stock market who bought Vaile some stock when he was 10 years old and that experience caused him to want to be a stockbroker. As a result, Vaile became a student of the market.
He went to a couple of different colleges in Illinois, then ended up in a program at Wharton for students who did not graduate from college.
Vaile was working for Morgan Stanley and living in Lake Geneva, WI, surrounded by friends in the futures markets and he wanted to get involved with what was happening. He said he badgered Morgan Stanley to get involved. They gave him permission, but he said he could see how long it would take for them to truly become involved and he did not have the patience for that.
Steve Beitler Built a Career on the Floor and a Big Business with Tennis Pal Tom Murphy
Steve Beitler has made his career on the CME trading floor, so JLN interviewed him for the Open Outcry Traders History Project. Beitler shared his story and at the end had some biting words about electronic trading and who benefits from it.
Veteran Trader Joe Corona Shares His Best Week Trading Ever
In Part Two of our Open Outcry Traders History Project Interview, Corona Tells of Recovering From Horrendous Tuesday Thrashing After Ten Point Bond Jump After Black Monday.
Veteran Trader Joe Corona Talks Freely In His Open Outcry Traders History Project Interview – Part One
Joe Corona’s Open Outcry Traders History Project story is a frank discussion of someone who stumbled into the markets as a temporary gig on his way to another career that never happened. Joe started a career in the markets after a friend of a friend helped him get a job as a runner at the Cboe in 1980 after he graduated from Northwestern University, and he never looked back.
Doug Engmann – Part Two – Open Outcry Traders History Project – John Lothian News
When Doug Engmann, chairman of Sage Brokerage Holdings, chose to expand his business to other exchanges, it was the late Jack Wing, Chairman Emeritus of Chicago Corporation, who helped him make the decision. Sage, unlike other clearing firms at the time, Engmann...
Doug Engmann – Open Outcry Traders History Project – Part One
A young Doug Engmann once had hopes of becoming a professional baseball player. Despite his continued love of the sport, his early career goals eventually shifted from the game of baseball to the game of investing.
Throughout his career, Engmann employed a persistence and penchant for leadership in the West Coast options industry that carried him through dramatic events that include a proposed San Francisco options floor merger, the stock market crash of 1987, and a closed exchange during a massive earthquake.
Tom Greene Celebrates 50 Years on Wall Street at NYSE
Head of NYSE Trading Floors Worked His Way from Runner to Head of Cotton Exchange and On to NYSE Trading Floor Head
Tom Greene wanted to be a civil servant, perhaps a fireman, when he was growing up. However, despite his best efforts, the jobs went to returning VietNam veterans. So he chose a vocation working with electricity, but that did not get him too far. Eventually, a cousin on Wall Street suggested he come down to Wall Street. And so began a career that has spawned 50 years, from his days as a runner on the New York Cotton Exchange to his role of Senior Vice President at the New York Stock Exchange today.
Kenny Polcari – Open Outcry Traders History Project Part 2
When Kenny Polcari started out at the New York Stock Exchange, “It was paper and pencil until the turn of the century,” he said.
The exchange started to introduce handheld computers in the late 1990s, but it was only in beta, not full blown yet. Everyone was preparing for Y2K. When Y2K happened and the technology didn’t fail, Polcari said, there was a push on the industry to move forward with modernization. They converted all the stocks over to decimals alphabetically, one at a time, over a six-month period, starting with the stocks named A to D.
Kenny Polcari – Open Outcry Traders History Project Part 1
When he was young, Kenny Polcari wanted to be in politics – preferably to eventually be president of the United States. But, he said, “Thank God none of that came true.”
When he was 19, he interned on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. He knew nothing about the business and was from Boston rather than New York. At first he thought, “Who wants to move to New York City in the summer as a 19-year-old kid?” He was going to go back to Cape Cod and be a lifeguard. But he thought about it and did his homework and said, “What’s the worst that can happen?”
Options Veterans Forge New Path With Tried-And-True Strategy
As its name suggests, Options Solutions is an options-centric asset-management firm that aims to increase the returns of investors’ portfolios with customized options strategies. JLN’s John Lothian and Suzanne Cosgrove recently interviewed the founders of the new enterprise, described by CEO Michael Brodsky as an early-stage, high-growth company. Team members are led by former CBOE Chairman and CEO Bill Brodsky, as well as Michael, his son, and options industry strategist Steve Sears.
Larry Abrams Part Two: Trader, “New York Jew” and Magician
Trader Larry Abrams Talks About His Career for the Open Outcry Traders HIstory Project
In part two of the JLN MarketsWiki Education Open Outcry Traders History Project interview with Larry Abrams, he talks about the emotionally draining market openings every day, his rather ugly experience in Kansas City opening a futures trading operation for Cooper Neff, options exercised out of the money, electronic trading, economic opportunity (and small worlds) and being a magician.
Bruce Williams – He Found Love of Open Outcry Trading Through Tennis – Part Two
Williams Spoke to John Lothian News for the Open Outcry Traders History Project Bruce Williams met Blair Hull when both were on a joint CBOT-CBOE committee for a new equity product where different versions would trade at the exchanges. Williams was in the Major Market...
Bruce Williams – He Found Love of Open Outcry Trading Through Tennis – Part One
Williams Spoke to John Lothian News for the Open Outcry Traders History Project Bruce Williams was a South Side Chicago street smart kid who found his way to the markets through tennis. As a youth, Williams had dreams of being a professional tennis player, and it was...
Yra Harris – Open Outcry Traders History Project – Part 2
In the early days of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, economic opportunity was phenomenal, said CME currency trader Yra Harris. ”I used to say it was like Jed Clampett [the character in the old TV series “The Beverly Hillbillies” who struck it rich] shooting at the ground and hitting oil.” It was a booming business.
Yra Harris – Open Outcry Traders History Project – Part 1
Yra Harris was on a career track to become a college professor in the 1970s, earning a master’s degree in economics. But when he came home from school his parents gave him $250 for a suit and told him to go look for a job. He did, interviewing at Continental Bank, First Chicago and other banks, but he said he had “broader expectations,” as well as aspirations to go to Washington to work for a congressional committee. A family friend suggested he get an IMM (International Monetary Market) seat at the CME for $10,000, but it wasn’t until May 1977 that he got a membership.
Larry Abrams – Open Outcry Traders History Project – Part 1
Larry Abrams’ career started with a chance encounter on a ski lift which was prompted by a good deed. He and some friends helped to push a stranded car that was stuck during a blizzard in Park City, Utah. The next day on the lift line he was paired with the man whose car he had helped push out the night before, who happened to be an options market maker at the Cboe. By the time he got off the lift line, he knew that was what he wanted to do.
FTX Implosion Prompts Call by DOJ Arm for Independent Probe
First Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has a piece titled "Blockchains, What Are They Good For?" It may be the obituary for blockchain, as Krugman outlines all the firms that have abandoned...
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The Spread
ALL OPTIONS CEO ALLARD JAKOBS TALKS ABOUT RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL TRADING FIRM, WHAT HE LOOKS FOR FROM NEW TRADERS, AND MORE IN THIS FULL INTERVIEW WITH JLN’S ALEX TENG
In this Options Discovery interview, Allard Jakobs, the CEO of All Options, sits down with JLN’s Alex Teng.
Big traders flock to US equity options with fleeting lifespans
Observations & Insight If you have not watched Options Discovery with Alex Teng of JLN, you are missing something. This young man, a finance major in his senior year at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is really coming into his own with the interviews he is...