Any thoughts on this? My name is Bryan Bottarelli â and I entered the game of options trading in the most direct way possible â on the intense floor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). Believe me when I tell youâ¦trading options is a cutthroat game. Standing for eight hours in a sweat-filled trading pit competing against the worldâs best floor traders â it makes you grow up in a hurry. Deep in the Apple Computer pit, I fought, scratched, and clawed for trades any way I could. It was very hard work and the stress was tremendous. Fortunately, two of the best options traders in the business took me under their wing and taught me their most heavily guarded secrets to success â methods that have made millions in the pits of Chicago and New York. Back in 2001, I was the âCBOE Clerkâ for two of the top floor traders in the country â named *Dave and *Cabot (they prefer to keep their full names anonymous). Dave was a CBOE legendâ¦ranking in the top 1% of professional floor traders in the world. Cabot was a true trading pioneer - whose trading tactics he developed back in 1977 are still taught behind closed doors at the top floor-trading firms. Sharing Dave and Cabotâs âriflemen-likeâ mentality, they picked me as their top protégéâ¦and we quickly became friends. They brought me their âinner circle,â teaching me the secrets that made them each rich. We dined at Chicagoâs top restaurantsâ¦we sat courtside at Bulls gamesâ¦and on cold winter Sundays we watched the Bears from season tickets on the 50-yard line. In the âmedia roomâ of Daveâs 4-story Lincoln Park grey-stone, we sat in oversized leather chairs, sipped Remy Martin Louis XIII brandy, and talked politics. But it's what we did on the CBOE trading floor should really interest you⦠Standing in the pits each and every day with Dave and Cabot made me untouchable. Mess with me (this happens to most rookies) and you'd answer to Dave and Cabot. With their help, I honed my skills to a razorâs edge, watching and absorbing how these two trading legends earned their seven-figure salaries. I admit, it was a great position to be in. But it wasnât a cakewalk⦠On average, Dave and Cabot made 800 transactions a day â and they remembered the time, cost, and risk level of every last one of them. Early on, I mistakenly wrote down an order for US$5.50 instead of US$5.25. Even though I overbid by just 25 cents, it cost Dave US$25,000. Needless to say, I learned to pay attention to detail very, very fast. With repetition comes mastery, and soon I began to see the same patterns and identify the same formations as my mentors. As I spent more time on the trading floor, things began to click and the game began to make more sense. On an average month, Dave and Cabot each made $150,000.00. A really good month brought in $400,000.00. The day Apple Computer split its shares 2-for-1, for example, I placed a trade that made Dave $33,000 in eight seconds. Hundreds of traders were constantly asking Dave and Cabot to teach them their secrets. But like David Copperfield, these trading magicians never revealed their secrets. And thatâs when it hit me⦠As their CBOE clerk, I knew how they made every penny. By standing next to them and placing their trades, I was secretly learning the blueprint for the greatest wealth-building tools ever imaginable. I was the one person who fully understood the incredible trading secrets Dave and Cabot spend countless hours perfecting. Thatâs like owning an NFL team with Vince Lombardi as the coach and Joe Montana as the quarterback. Unfortunately, thatâs where the honeymoon ends⦠After a year of record-breaking profits, our options firm decided to alter their bonus structure â cutting our profit-share 50% across the board without a salary increase. It was a calculated risk by the firmâ¦and it backfired miserably. Many of the top traders left the firm â lead by Dave and Cabot. Seeing my two mentors walk out the door, I also left the firm to join a Baltimore-based publishing company. Although itâs a few years later, Iâve kept these secrets to myself â occasionally using them to make a trade or two in my personal account. Every trade Iâve ever made has doubled. 155% on ADSK January 35 Calls 100% on WFMI August 75 Calls 100% on CECO October 50 Calls 122% on PDCO April 75 Calls 131% on DNA January 75 Calls 166% on CAT February 55 Calls Although we parted ways, Dave and I remain friends to this day. Last week we met at the CBOE for dinner, and thatâs where Dave revealed to me â what could be â the greatest money-making secret of your lifeâ¦
Yeah, everybody knows that Dave & Cabot (Cabot??) would never drink Remy Martin Louis XIII brandy, instead preferring a warm glass of bull semen.
Although we parted ways, Dave and I remain friends to this day. Last week we met at the CBOE for dinner, and thatâs where Dave revealed to me â what could be â the greatest money-making secret of your life. And he said: THERE IS NO SANTA CLAUS !!! (the end)
Although we parted ways, Dave and I remain friends to this day. Last week we met at the CBOE for dinner, and thatâs where Dave touched my thigh in a funny way â and said âI think I love youâ.