An insiders chat with Charles Cottle-- TOS founder

http://www.marketsurfer.com/?p=65

Dave: Let’s start off by getting a bit of history about yourself. I know you have had tons of experience in and around the option markets. What first got you interested in options?
Charles: I was an accountant. I use to track the transactions of my clients and I got very interested in the workings of options. I then had the opportunity to visit a friend who was trading on the floor. This was an amazing new world that I never even knew existed, even though my office was just down the street for years. I worked at a family accounting firm during the summers. At this point, I was a year out of college and I visited the floor. Several of my friends were starting to trade futures. Futures did not attract me, but options seemed intriguing. It seemed like you really could control the risk. I went to a free seminar and came back to the office and said “I’m giving a years notice to this family business of 65 years.” Then I went down to become a trader.
Dave: Wow, that took some nerve leaving the security of the family office. We are talking about Chicago and the CBOE?
Charles: Correct.
Dave: What was your evolution on the floor? Did you start out as a clerk or did you step right into trading?
Charles: I stepped right into trading. I read a few books and figured I didn’t have to go that route. The market told me differently, because 6 months later I lost all my money. I just didn’t understand things. I thought when the customers were buying I could just take the other side and bet against them. I had no idea on how to take on an inventory of options. The other guys in the pits seemed to be so emotionless about every single trade they made. I was riding on every single contract that I had. I was basically hoping, praying and doing all the wrong things.
Dave: What was the path between being a losing trader and the thinkorswim brokerage launch?............http://www.marketsurfer.com/?p=65

 

Wonder if he got a piece of TOS when it was sold to Ameritrade?

 

good stuff surf. The biggest trader in the oex pit was someone you never heard of classy guy too.

 

His book is good although his doodling for dissecting positions still mystifies me.

 

thanks, Kinggy. Yeah, my first option trade was in the OEX-- those were the days! any hints who you are talking about?? :eek:

 

initials JC a big local.

 

Interesting, thanks! surf

 

" turned that down because I was on a mission to learn everything that there was to know about options."

thats so me the last year and a half! ..

 

Funny! Cottle is a character, you would probably get along well with him. surf

 

i'm still living the very first part of his story.... haha... takes balls to walk out of an accounting business onto a trading floor and just take the opposite side of all order flow!