Mike’s note: Tonight, we’re continuing with a brand-new special edition of the Market Minute – featuring the invaluable trading insights of master hedge fund trader Larry Benedict.
Even with all of Larry’s success, he’s actually one of the most humble people I’ve ever met. For every big winner he’s told me about, he’s just as eager to talk about his early failures. Because to Larry, these failures were formative events that shaped the trader he became… And are what allows him to deliver 100% winners to his subscribers in just a few days – often multiple times per week.
And today’s story, where Larry recounts his first days on the floor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, is a perfect example of those formative moments.
Now before you read on, I urge you to sign up for Larry’s big upcoming event on Wednesday, March 10 at 8 p.m. ET. There, he’ll detail a little-known phenomenon that occurs in the options market – four times per year.
In the past, Larry traded a specific ticker during this event to generate millions of dollars for his hedge fund. And for his readers, Larry made recommendations using this ticker that led to gains of 212%, 248%, and 120% in just a matter of days. Just go right here to sign up, and learn how Larry does it…
By Larry Benedict, editor, The Opportunistic Trader
The year was 1984, and I had just started my trading career.
I worked as a runner, and a clerk, in the pits at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. And it was there that I learned the first, most fundamental rule of being a successful trader.
As a clerk back then, you would answer phones, write orders, and run the orders out to the pit to execute them. And then, you’d get back on the phone and report the fill to the customer.
When I first started, I was getting trained by another clerk who worked for my boss. My boss was a big-time trader. And the clerk who was training me said something strange…
“Look, you’re going to get fired every day. But don’t listen to it. Come back tomorrow and everything will be fine.”
I’m originally from New York. And here I was… 21 years old, in a new city where I didn’t know anyone, and I knew absolutely nothing about my job. Not to mention, I’m being told I’ll get fired every day.
I also didn’t know the ins and outs of working on a trading floor. I was expected to know what I was doing. But I knew nothing about trading, period. And on the first day, I got thrown right into the fire.
My boss was giving me hand signals for what trades to do from the pit, but I was clueless. They gave me a sheet with all the hand signals, but it was like having to learn sign language in minutes… I’d look up at the screens with the current stock prices, and it just looked like scrolling gibberish.
He really needed someone with much more experience than I had.
Inevitably, I messed up an order and my boss went ballistic. He told me I was an idiot and didn’t know what I was doing, and he fired me.
So of course, I’m freaking out. I call my mom and tell her, “Mom, I just got fired. But they told me I’ll get fired every day and to just keep coming back.”
And she goes, “Well, just do what they say then!”
So I go back in the next day, and I’m there early. My boss walks in and he’s got a cup of coffee and a bag of McDonald’s, like everything is normal. He starts asking me what I did last night, and is in a normal, upbeat mood.
It was crazy. Everything really was fine.
So, the next day comes around, and he asked me a question about adding fractions together. I didn’t know the answer, so I guessed.
Bad move. I guessed wrong. Then he went ballistic and fired me again.
Suffice to say, it was a high-strung and high-intensity environment. And as miserable as it was doing that every day, getting fired and coming back with my tail between my legs, I kept coming back.
Not a lot of people are built to handle that kind of environment. But you learn that way. You get knocked down and get back up, every single day.
That’s what my boss was trying to teach me, in his own strange way. And it’s a lesson every new trader needs to learn.
No matter how many times you fail… Lose money… Or “get fired,” so to speak…
You have to get up, dust yourself off, and try again. That’s the only way to learn and improve.
It’s easy to get discouraged, especially when money is on the line. But if trading were easy, everyone would do it
and everyone would be rich.
Maybe the advice to “never give up” is something of a cliché.
But that cliché is the reason why I turned that first job into a 35-year trading career, making millions along the way.
And if you want to be a successful trader, you must follow it.
Best regards,
Larry Benedict
Editor, The Opportunistic Trader
P.S. Thankfully, most traders these days don’t have to enter the cutthroat world of Wall Street to earn their stripes. Nearly anyone can open a brokerage account and potentially turn hundreds of dollars into millions.
But there’s an undeniable advantage to working on the Street. You learn trade secrets that most everyday traders aren’t aware of. And you can use them to great effect…
One such secret is a weeklong period of rampant volatility that occurs several times per year – what I call the 7-Day Blitz.
And on these weeks, if you play your cards right and trade one specific ticker, you can make more in one week than many do all year long.
On Wednesday, March 10 at 8 p.m. ET, I’ll reveal all the details about this event – including the ticker I use to trade it. Sign up here… You won’t want to miss it.