Larry Levin is a professional futures trader. He has been in and around the S&P 500 futures pit at the largest futures exchange in the world; the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), for almost 20 years.
Larry has been trading his own account or company's proprietary accounts since 1993, trading an average of 2500-3000 E-mini S&P futures contracts a day.
But Larry wasn't always a successful trader, in fact, before he reached the top, he began his trading career at the very bottom...
"Before I began my trading career, I did what most people do when they graduate high school; go to college.
I figured I owed it to my parents to give college a try, but instead of going to class, I found it was much more exciting to go to the Chicago Cubs games at Wrigley Field.
It didn’t take to long for my parents to figure out I wasn’t going to class, and they decided it was ultimatum time. I had three choices:
Go to college- Get a job
- Or do neither and get out of the house
Luckily, a few of my friends were working at a ‘financial exchange’; The Chicago Mercantile Exchange; where futures contracts (also known as commodities) are traded.
Back in the late 80’s the trading floors in Chicago were bustling with activity! The futures markets were the place to be if you wanted action in the investing world. And the Chicago Mercantile Exchange had the S&P 500 futures contract, the busiest stock index contract in the world at the time.
I was lucky enough to get a job as a runner with one of the biggest firms on the trading floor back then; Lind-Waldock. The pay was $3.35 an hour (minimum wage at the time). My job was simply to bring futures orders (pork bellies, Swiss Francs, T-Bills, Etc.) I didn’t really understand what was going on around me when I first started, but I learned fast.
As my career continued at the CME, I was promoted to Trading Floor Manager. As Floor Manager, I was in charge of all the employees for Lind-Waldock within the S&P 500 futures pit. That was when I realized something was missing.
As a manger on the floor, I talked to customers all over the world. And they always wanted to know the same thing; What are the floor traders doing now? Do they have long positions or short positions? Are they big positions or small positions?
Who could blame them? Floor traders were always making the most money and everyone wanted to duplicate their trading results. Keep in mind; this was almost 20 years ago before we had electronic trading in the futures markets!
The next year I quit my job at Lind-Waldock to become a full- time floor trader. I felt I was ready; I had been working at the exchange for about 3 years and had learned a lot.
Wow, was I in for some tough lessons!
Like the majority of beginning traders out there, I thought learning how to trade would be a breeze. I’m a smart guy, and I figured if others could do it, I’m sure it would be no problem for me either!
Unfortunately my friends, trading doesn’t work that way. There is no business in the world that can humble a man like trading the futures markets. In fact, I busted out (or in other words lost all the money in my account) four separate times. But over time, I figured out what it takes to be successful trader. It’s not what most people think.
To be a successful trader, you need to learn in a very specific manner if you want to have any chance for success. If you deviate from this approach, your chances to become successful in the trading world are almost nonexistent. This is really the key to financial success in the trading game.
When my customers called to ask what the floor traders were doing, they weren’t really asking if the floor traders had a long or short position in the market. They were truly asking how the floor traders knew whether to be long or short. They were looking for clues on how to know where the market was going.
That’s when it dawned on me; most people don’t have a clue as to what the floor traders or professional traders know and how they know it.
The solution can be found in how you look at trading, not in some magical indicator or method. That is the key difference. Professional floor traders (and now many professional electronic traders) look at the market in a completely different way than most other traders.
And thus my company, Secrets of Traders was born; to give the everyday trader the opportunity to be a more experienced trader.
I realized I could solve a lot of problems that many struggling traders have. I could teach them to look at the market the way I was taught as a beginning trader. Most people will never have access to the professional traders at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and that is why they may never learn my real secrets to trading success. Until now.
I was lucky enough to be in an environment (the trading floor at the CME) where those trading secrets are readily available. Now, I can finally give back to others what I learned that led to my trading success.
I’ve was given the tools necessary to make a fortune in the markets and have a lot of fun doing it. How can I not share my successful methods so others (like you) can do it too?
I certainly have nothing to hide, in fact, just the opposite; I have an abundance of knowledge to share!
Thanks & good trading to you."
That is just a few things about Larry levin, you may find out much more than that in his site here: http://www.secretsoftraders.com
