Moving Day

I'm happy to point out that the main tradingpithistory.com site has finished it's redesign and the blog will no longer be at this separate tradingpitblog.com domain, here is the new address under tradingpithistory.com which the blog will continue at:  https://tradingpithistory.com/blog/


There still are a handful of things to be done and until those are completed, this domain will remain up and then will eventually redirect to the main site.  I've got a bit of material I'll put up in the blog at the primary site once I get a handle on things and also some distractions out of the way (trading, travel and more Grateful Dead shows). 

I'm also excited to finish filling out the Further Resources section on the redesigned tradingpithistory.com because it will be the most concentrated resource for various media and information regarding this history!

See ya at the new blog home. 

Rum brokering to futures clearing

 image source: thedrinkingcup.net

Of all the financial firms which participated on the trading floors, none has more interesting origins than E.D.&F Man as it served as official rum merchants to the Royal Navy for almost 200 years.  The group was founded in 1783 by barrel maker James Man and continued as the official supplier of rum to Limey sailors from 1784 until Black Tot Day in 1970.  

Considering how strict modern military forces are, it's quite inconceivable now that rum rations were provided twice daily on normal days and according to one source, double servings were allotted before battle and of course after victory in the Royal Navy.   To certify that the rum was of sufficient alcohol strength and not diluted, sailors could give the rum a gunpowder test which would prove if it was above 57% alcohol since it wouldn't burn otherwise.  The 3 minute video below provides an example of alcohol proofing and make sure you think of these sailors next time you look at a bottle of booze and read it's proof:
 


Almost a decade after the Royal Navy discontinued rum rations, an entrepreneur contacted E.D&F. Man to obtain the recipe and blending information so he could recreate the rum according to Admiralty specifications.  In 1980, Pusser's rum was first sold to the public and remains relatively available, I picked up a bottle at Bevmo today and have sipped on it while writing this post. 

I also clear my trades through ED&F Man and can say they're a great operation to work with. 

Trading Pit Hand Signals book video trailer

We've taken a long while to finishing the Trading Pit Hand Signals book trailer but it's great to finally release it as the video really captures the depth of the book.  Hopefully you agree and get a sense for the pit because we put audio from the wheat pit at the KCBT throughout the minute long video. 


The reason behind the release delay, besides a multitude of life's distractions, was that we were going for an entirely different concept and shot film for that other concept a year ago.  My favorite rap album, Ice-T's O.G. Original Gangster, has a pretty funny second track entitled "First Impression"  (some NSFW language on that link) which we aimed to recreate by talking about the trading pits with the book serving as a prop.  Although we came close after some attempts, we could never nail the script concept for what our expectations were, so after a year sitting on that footage it was time to just push out something different. 

If you're interested in picking up the book, the link to it on Amazon is here and the ebook link at iTunes is here.  And if your interest level isn't that deep then that's cool as well, I only want people buying it who are really into it.

Besides helping me w/the trailer, my bud Jack also has recently created a great SF based webseries entitled Tech Boom which is absolutely hilarious and based upon the tech scene here in SF.  One of my favorite episodes is below and runs only a couple minutes, some slight NSFW language in there.

Followup on futures trading pit closure

Well, I guess I should remark a bit more on the closure of the futures trading pits now that I've had a chance to reflect upon things.

The news hasn't elicited much more than a "meh" response on my part for a couple reasons but mainly because the futures trading pits have been rendered almost irrelevant for a long time.  Some pit traders continue to find niches which the floor can serve a purpose and the closure sucks for them but ultimately this announcement was going to come at some point.  From a personal perspective, I last traded in the pit in 2005 as I was one of the early eurodollar traders to move entirely electronic from the pit (more on that is a followup post), so my perspective is certainly removed from the perspective of a floor trader in 2015.   A few times a year I'll still go down to the floor to walk around but things are so different than the glory days that it no longer excites me.  Perhaps this is a crude analogy but it's almost like visiting a hospice patient, alive but in terminal decline that is hard to see when remembering previous vitality.   This space is oriented towards the history of what it was, not necessarily what it is now. 

A funny encounter to relate the state of things I had late last year w/a couple amigos, one a former veteran pit trader who resumed his legal career after leaving trading and the other a long time options pit trader that at the time still went down to his options pit everyday.  The ex-pit trader said, "I miss it" regarding the excitement of the trading floor and the current options trader said, "Ha, I miss it and I'm still there everyday."

One nice thing to come from the news is that there is a greater nostalgic appreciation for what an amazing environment the trading pits were, which is a big turn from how bitter a lot of people felt towards the trading pits previously.  Hundreds of thousands of people either had direct or a single degree of separation from the pits and it's triggered a nice retrospective look into open outcry before the markets evolved electronically.

The various news stories on the closure were more a reflection of sloppy journalism and tired cliches than the trading pits but hopefully some interesting content emerges in the lead up to the actual closure.  Of course the best stories of the trading pits will never be told and while there are a few that I can finally share after the futures pits close, the funniest and most outrageous won't make it to this blog. 

As far as determining a certain date as to when pits will close, I would guess that it won't be a firm date right now according to how CME Group operates.  The last controversial announcement they had was dismissing the prior CEO by stating he was leaving by yearend, then accelerated that time frame to months and ultimately it was later noted that he left a couple weeks prior via a regulatory filing.  Thus, with how image conscious the CME Group is, anything can happen regarding the actual dates.  I just want to be there for the closure of the famed wheat pit.

Regarding this space, the news has accelerated a few things that have been on my to-do list for a long time.  The website's content management system (CMS), which was custom built in 2008, needs to be expanded and I'm looking at a couple other turnkey CMSs to shift to.  A new CMS will really expand the scope of capturing this history in a big way and allow the website to be more visually driven.  I have boxes of historical stuff which will be great to put on the internet but it's hard within the current CMS to make that happen so sometimes a fresh start is necessary.  Trading, babysitting, hockey and beer take precedence to the CMS switch but I'm hoping w/a little motivation it'll happen within a month or so.

End of futures pits in July

Time to break out the trading jacket and cards one more time and card up a floor trade for the first time since 2005.....

CME Group to Close Most Open Outcry Futures Trading in Chicago and New York by July; Most Options Markets to Remain Open

Fare Thee Well isn't just the tagline now for the final Grateful Dead reunion concert in July at Soldier Field but also that same week will see the end of futures trading pits as the CME shifts all futures contracts (except the spoo pit) entirely onto the screen.  What a long strange trip it's been.....  That is shaping up to be one helluva week in Chicago for me!

BTW, apologies for not posting in last 6 weeks as between trading and other stuff I'm too busy.  Any time away from the trading screen I'd rather just play with my baby girl rather than doing trading pit history stuff.  I'll get back on the grind before too long though.