Based on his after the fact claims made regularly on cnbs, he must earn between 3 and 5 billion a year trading options. Wonderful how he takes the time to write books for the masses.
Is that true? More than I thought. Gotta luv these traders who turn media celebs of sorts. Beats writing newsletters or holding hands with clients. Terranova (former Fisher guy, now significant CNBC contributor) Bolling (former energy trader, now FOX news host) Najarians ( the book is still being written)
The Najarian brothers have an options service called optionMonster. Take a look at their website. It's full of bragging but guess what? No track record. There is a good reason why they don't publish track record. It's terrible. Jon Najarian is indeed worth $50M, but his wealth didn't come from trading. He founded Mercury Trading in 1989 and ran the company for 15 years. He then sold his floor operations to Citadel, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, in 2004. Not every celebrity is necessarily a good trader.
Why would they publish a track record, it's a brokerage service. I worked on the floor of the CBOE. Mercury Trading was one of the most profitable floor operations and Jon was a good floor trader. Like Tony Saliba, he made his money and got out. Smart move. Like a good trader, he sold at the top. So did Saliba. A lot of guys wish they got out. Gotta love ET though. This is where the "real" traders are. LOL.
Thanks for the info. Totally agree with the celeb/trader comment too. Having a stage and a microphone does not add validity or credibility. Im reminded of Sean Penn and George Clooney politcal rants, and Linda Ronstadt and Katy Perry concerts.
optionmonster is not a brokerage, it's options service. Trademoster is a brokerage associated with it. optionmonster makes money from subscriptions, Trademoster makes money from commissions. There is a HUGE difference between trading at the floor where you have a built-in edge and trading as a retail trader. btw, being an owner of both optionmonster and Trademoster is a HUGE conflict of interest, and I'm surprised the SEC hasn't looked into it yet.
Seems they make their riches more from being savvy business people rather than super traders. The ability to convince and persuade others they are great traders and people should join their service. I always feel like Pete is trying to convince me he is GODS gift to trading by always talking at the speed of light. I think they are better salesman than traders and the book is just a tool to get more members.
In a couple of months it may all be moot if the TradeMonster - OptionsHouse merger goes through. (the brokerages are combining, not sure what happens to the OptionMonster education/advisory component of the deal)