Had any floor experience?

I have seen "several" types of personality traits on a commodities floor, from the typical ADRENALINE MONKEY ( which is about 75% of the personality types on the floor ) to that of quiet, methodical, very cool and calculating INTROVERT TYPES which are usually the "quant-guys" in the futures options pits, constantly caculating the Thetas and Gammas of their positions.

Sometimes you had the infamous Glenn B. Laken type that was "foaming at the mouth with Maalox tablets still disolving on the outside of his lips" to the quiet, "I've got it all together" GQ personality of Marc Bluestein on the Comex, who would casually walk into the gold ring at lunch time ( while the pit was half-filled and doing crossword puzzles ) and calmly cover a 200 lot LOSER!

:p
 
I have seen "several" types of personality traits on a commodities floor, from the typical ADRENALINE MONKEY ( which is about 75% of the personality types on the floor ) to that of quiet, methodical, very cool and calculating INTROVERT TYPES which are usually the "quant-guys" in the futures options pits, constantly caculating the Thetas and Gammas of their positions.

Sometimes you had the infamous Glenn B. Laken type that was "foaming at the mouth with Maalox tablets still disolving on the outside of his lips" to the quiet, "I've got it all together" GQ personality of Marc Bluestein on the Comex, who would casually walk into the gold ring at lunch time ( while the pit was half-filled and doing crossword puzzles ) and calmly cover a 200 lot LOSER!

:p
 
Quote from Tea:

I have never traded on the floor, though I have been to a number of them.

It seems like a different skill set is required for optimal performance on the floor vs. for screen based traders. Most people could probably do both, but extreme personalities/skill sets could probably only do one or the other. What do you think?

FLOOR: extraverts

Physical skills- getting noticed (height, voice, movement etc.), endurance

People/political skills- working in a crowd, politicking to get order flow

Memory skills- have to keep a lot in your head (though less with the hand-held computers)


SCREEN: introverts

Computer skills - setup, operation, programming etc.

Intra-personal skills - working alone, interacting with your computer.

Visual skills - its all in what you see (charts, quotes etc.)
More...
 
Quote from Tea:

I have never traded on the floor, though I have been to a number of them.

It seems like a different skill set is required for optimal performance on the floor vs. for screen based traders. Most people could probably do both, but extreme personalities/skill sets could probably only do one or the other. What do you think?

FLOOR: extraverts

Physical skills- getting noticed (height, voice, movement etc.), endurance

People/political skills- working in a crowd, politicking to get order flow

Memory skills- have to keep a lot in your head (though less with the hand-held computers)


SCREEN: introverts

Computer skills - setup, operation, programming etc.

Intra-personal skills - working alone, interacting with your computer.

Visual skills - its all in what you see (charts, quotes etc.)
More...

Terrific observations, Tea! Some of the most charming, political guys I've ever known are floor traders. However few locals are really talented "traders". Some of the guys I've met on this board, if they'd had the opportunity, with their talent, to have traded in a volumous pit, would have been multi-millionaires.
 
Quote from Tea:

I have never traded on the floor, though I have been to a number of them.

It seems like a different skill set is required for optimal performance on the floor vs. for screen based traders. Most people could probably do both, but extreme personalities/skill sets could probably only do one or the other. What do you think?

FLOOR: extraverts

Physical skills- getting noticed (height, voice, movement etc.), endurance

People/political skills- working in a crowd, politicking to get order flow

Memory skills- have to keep a lot in your head (though less with the hand-held computers)


SCREEN: introverts

Computer skills - setup, operation, programming etc.

Intra-personal skills - working alone, interacting with your computer.

Visual skills - its all in what you see (charts, quotes etc.)
More...
==============================
Won't use the word old, I will instead use the word mature.

When some floor traders get mature ;
they trade ''From the Pit to the PC like Lewis Borsellino''

Interesting read on this post.
:cool:
 
FLOOR: extraverts

Physical skills- getting noticed (height, voice, movement etc.), endurance

People/political skills- working in a crowd, politicking to get order flow

Memory skills- have to keep a lot in your head (though less with the hand-held computers)


SCREEN: introverts

Computer skills - setup, operation, programming etc.

Intra-personal skills - working alone, interacting with your computer.

Visual skills - its all in what you see (charts, quotes etc.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


i think there is a blend of both to be a successful trader. I would rank Memory #1, both on and off the floor....just remembers those numbers and the markets reaction away and towards. I knew more introverts than extroverts on the floor, the opening bell often times unleashes a different animal. Indeed many floor traders "politic" or "intimidate" for the order flow, by and large those are the "working stiffs" of the game, even if you are great and make a great living, you are on the bottom of the food chain. Many of the floor greats i met were the true introverts...quiet...methodical, analytical, chartists, etc. But the floor "color" or "picture"...almost like music in a movie....adds to the savvy investors repetoire!
 
Quote from spyderman:

But the floor "color" or "picture"...almost like music in a movie....adds to the savvy investors repetoire!
More...

i've never seen the chicago floors/pits in person. i'm sure there are behind-the-glass tours, but how hard is it for a visitor to actually get right on the floor, if even for just a few minutes?
 
Quote from damir00:



i've never seen the chicago floors/pits in person. i'm sure there are behind-the-glass tours, but how hard is it for a visitor to actually get right on the floor, if even for just a few minutes?
More...

Any member of the exchange can get you a visitors pass for up to an hour or so. Takes one minute.
 
I traded on the floor of some of the NY commodity exchanges in the late seventies and early eighties.

For me when I started out trading stocks and commodities "the other side of the valley was greener". (no pun intended)
One day my broker said:hey you are so good at this, why don't become a broker? So I became a commodity broker.
Then I found myself to be too busy with other people's stuff to trade properly and ended up trading from home.
Then I saw that I could have better fills if I had a direct line to a floorbroker. I did that.
The next was the realization that I could save big and have more control by doing my own on the floor.

When I got there I was surprised to see that 95 % of the floor people were subsidizing their trading by brokering or being employees of big firms and almost all came through the ranks.
So I did not exactly fit in but, learned a lot and I have done well and kept trading there until I got married.

Trading on the floor is a total immersion experience.
Since I no longer want to be wired into the market to that degree and I no longer want the market to have my soul, I am content upstairs.

Today, with the internet and the wonderful computer toolbox programs and cheap commissions one can have an effective low-cost operation off the floor .
 
COM member of the CBOT (still am), traded mostly grain options, now I trade off floor. I find the experience to be essential to what I do now for all sorts of reasons.
Jessie
 
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