Options Boot Camp 294: Tales from the Trading Floor Part 2

·38 min·3 clips

Mark Longo recalls how he had to physically fight for his spot in the SPX pit against a D1 lineman hired by a rival firm.

The episode begins with Mark Longo and Dan Passarelli introducing the show and sharing an anecdote about their podcast network breaking Spotify due to having over 6,000 episodes. They then transition into the main topic: 'Tales from the Trading Floor Part 2,' a follow-up to an episode from May 2022. The hosts compare the modern CBOE trading floor, which is quiet and casual with traders in T-shirts, to the past when it was crowded, loud, and required formal attire like ties and jackets. Mark recounts his experience breaking into the SPX pit, facing hostility from seasoned traders and physical spot wars, including a confrontation with a D1 lineman hired by a rival firm. Dan shares his own story of breaking into the Ford Motor Company pit, where he endured verbal abuse for a year before being accepted. Mark describes the gold rush during the dotcom boom when new equity pits opened, leading him to sleep overnight on a bench at the CBOE to secure a spot in the Intel pit. Dan adds a story from his time trading corn options at the Chicago Board of Trade, where insiders ignored rules and excluded newcomers. The hosts discuss the RAISE system, a retail execution system from the past, and how 'RAISE bandits' would exploit it to pick off market makers. Dan tells a humorous anecdote about traders tricking new clerks by sending them to find a 'box of upticks.' The episode concludes with Dan promoting his newly launched zero DTE scanner, which scans for various options strategies, and a sponsor message for Public.com's options trading platform with rebates. Throughout, the hosts emphasize the harsh, competitive culture of historical trading floors and its evolution.

As heard by us

A sharp pit-floor story about territory, persistence, and the physical side of old options trading.

Options Boot Camp 294 treats the old options floor as a proving ground, following Dan Passarelli from the Ford Motor Company pit to his fight for space in the SPX pit.

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Why you'd press play

You want to know how traders earned a place in an options pit before the room got polite.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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