CBOT http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/page/0,3181,936,00.html CME http://www.cme.com/trading/mem/price/leaseprices.html NYMEX http://www.nymex.com/ss_nymex_lease.aspx COMEX Div. http://www.nymex.com/ss_comex_lease.aspx MGEX http://www.mgex.com/seat_prices.html KCBT (i dont think they have exact prices on there website...but i talked to them about 3-4 months ago and it was about $500) http://kcbt.com/membership_6.html ...LANDIS: Very interesting story about WTC attack and what it was like on the floor that day
Didn't you guys ever watch 'Trading Places'? "[approaching the New York Commodities Exchange] Louis Winthorpe III: Think big, think positive, never show any sign of weakness. Always go for the throat. Buy low, sell high. Fear? That's the other guy's problem. Nothing you have ever experienced will prepare you for the absolute carnage you are about to witness. Super Bowl, World Series - they don't know what pressure is. In this building, it's either kill or be killed. You make no friends in the pits and you take no prisoners. One minute you're up half a million in soybeans and the next, boom, your kids don't go to college and they've repossessed your Bentley. Are you with me? Billy Ray Valentine: Yeah, we got to kill the motherfuckers - we got to kill 'em!"
Do you or most locals just offer a few ticks higher right after you bought the bid? And what % of your trades result in scratches? With your SnP example, the math is amazing. Given a regular spread in the pit is 30 to 50 cents, if you can do 10 cars and make 50 cents, thats $1250 a day (very decent living indeed). How do able is that? And how big is the risk when your target is only 50 cents?
A seat lease is about $3k right now, and commisions, we are talking 50 cents a contract. I would imagine if a local has good relationship with a broker, which give him trades while the other guy is still bidding at that price and can easily turn around and scratch it, $1K to $2K net income in the pit is pretty doable and with little risk too
I would say 1000 to 2000 for a guy just off the boat stepping into the pit is a pipe dream. I dont know what the seat lease is these days or what all of the expenses are anymore but I guess their monthly nut before dollar one would be pushing 8 to 10k, and thats without having to do any soft money stuff to even get a sniff of order flow.
no they usually have high blood pressure, and suicide-prone and manic depressive is common in pit traders.