I started work on the LIFFE trading floor when I was 17 in 1993 as a runner for a company called GH Financials. I stayed there for quite a while, becoming head runner and then going on to take my trading exams when I turned 21. I always wanted to be a broker so I don't quite know how I ended up being a local in the Eurolira pit... But I tried to get on with it! I don't think back then I had the confidence to be a local. I couldn't progress any further than doing one and two lots and although I made a little money (VERY little) I was never really going to get along with it and as soon as my seat lease came out of my account I knew I was far too inexperienced to be able to cope with having a negative balance in my account!

GH Financials offered me a job I guess they didn't really have (and for which I really appreciated) in the Euromark pit as a broker. They were a new company back then and although growing, I doubt they really wanted a newbie broker to have to teach. Fortunately though, I pick things up quite fast I guess - maybe because of my background in programming and being a gamer? Who knows?!!! Trading futures markets is quite like a game or well, a number puzzle. That's how I've likened it before. And DAMN, I love puzzles :o) I got on quite well and the office traders did strategy trading which I took to completely! It really built my confidence up doing strategies; there were far more experienced traders there who didn't have a clue about how to even work them out! I learnt a lot from trading that way and I had great teachers. I don't want to name names on a public internet site, so I won't... But just so you know, I'm not good at keeping in contact with people but I do wonder what you're all up to now :o) I'd love to catch up with you all one day - especially 'JKE' - you taught me more than just how to trade - I'll always be in your debt.

Anyhow, I traded fairly well and didn't have any major errors - quite a few scratches maybe - but then I guess that's unavoidable when you're trading butterflies and combination spreads. And I started to really enjoy it!!! Before long I began to pick up business from various locals in the pit (I can't claim responsibility for that, as it started because of my head broker getting his mates to use me!) but to me it was very interesting to have locals orders. I'd not really considered becoming a local again, I hated having the 'fear of trading' you get when it's your own money. But having these orders, which I treated though they were my own ones did give me far more market awareness than I had before. I pity people starting up trading today, you'll never gain that kind of awareness trading over the internet - it helps me greatly now and I doubt I'd have any consistency without it! Well... I guess you still can... It just depends on how deep your pockets are!

I left GHF in February/ March 1997 to work for Nikko Europe. During this time I was also offered a job at HSBC and I'll kick myself to this day for not taking it. I felt a kind of commitment to Nikko after accepting the job and I didn't want to suddenly turn around and tell them I'd been offered something better elsewhere. I thought that it would reflect badly on my ethics - so I stuck with Nikko. I actually had a few job offers after I'd announced I was leaving, it was very flattering to be honest! I'd not considered that anyone had really noticed me and so it was very pleasing!!! GHF weren't happy about me leaving though, and I actually didn't want to go. But I really needed to move out of my parents house and I wasn't earning enough money at the time. I doubled my salary by going to Nikko, I just couldn't refuse.

Nikko Europe turned out to be a huge mistake. Their trading consisted of buying or selling 1000 lots maybe a few times a week and little else. We actually had days where we didn't even trade at all!!! It bored me greatly and I got into a habit of buying a book in the WH Smiths at Cannon Street station every morning and finishing it by the end of the day! Eventually my ambition got the better of me and I started to pick up brokerage from locals on my own - but I was never rewarded for it. I did it for free! I set the rates (and they were pretty low) but Nikko got all the money! Even my Christmas bonus was just the same as everyone elses and I was the only one picking up extra business. Like I said... BIG mistake.

I don't feel like I learnt anything at Nikko, I'd have dearly loved to have taken the job at HSBC instead as they at least have good business. I'm just kicking myself again now as I type... Anyhow... To cut a long complicated story short, LIFFE decided to put futures on computers and that was the death of the LIFFE open outcry market. One-by-one you'd notice that a company wasn't there any more - they'd just vanish over night and not be there the next day. It was never a bad thing really; having the market on computers opens it up to absolutely everyone - no matter where in the world you are. It was very 'closed' before, very difficult to get into. The only people who suffered because of it were the brokers and many went a LONG time before the floor actually closed. Myself included... I think I worked up to May 1998 and then got a paltry redundancy and no months notice. Leave the floor that night immediately... Not even a chance to look around for a new job. Much like everyone else who had to leave - companies were afraid that because of 'bad feeling' a rogue trader might do something stupid. I can appreciate that, and I wasn't bitter with them for anything other than the redundancy, maybe if I'd been with HSBC things would have been different! (Kick myself again!) I think if anything, I was quite happy to go - Nikko had drained my energy and I was bored of standing around doing nothing. I really looked forward to the days when we actually had something to do - it's just a pity that there weren't more of them!

I went local with a small firm called GLH that cleared through the Griffin Trading Company pretty much just to get down on the floor again to find a job. I did trade a little in this time and I did make a few hundred pounds, but my mind wasn't on it - I was job hunting and convinced that I'd never be able to make money by trading on computers. I felt like too much would be lacking. I guess it's hard to explain, but you can hear a market moving and you can literally feel it's direction when you're in the pit. It may sound like simply a lot of hollering and screaming (which it is I guess!) but it's more to me like a living, breathing thing. It's hard to explain without actually being there... And I'm afraid... It's not there any more!
Anyway, this little local venture (adventure?) didn't last long as a rogue trader called John Park built up a huge losing position on Christmas Eve. Everyone lost all the money in their accounts and it wasn't until quite a good few years later that we received any fair percentage of it back. It's a credit to one particular person that any of us got anything really. I won't name him, but he worked bloody hard for a whole lot of people who thought he was 'in on it' even though he lost everything too. It was exceptionally brave of him to carry on as he did and I was very happy that he took me under his wing later on in my story.

It wasn't until the end of January 1999 that I managed to get another job on the floor as a broker with DMF/ Futureclear (part of MFF). I was exceptionally lucky to have been offered the position as to be fair I hadn't been given any chance with Nikko to shine and 'practise' my trading skills. I bet there were many more experienced traders who'd lost their jobs who would have loved to have been given the chance to go back on the floor. I was lucky and I know that, thanks for your help Nick. I don't know what I'd do without you!
I didn't earn fantastic money this time, only a shade more than I'd been earning at GH Financials but it was enough and much better than nothing at all! The company itself was fantastic too, I felt really welcome (for being the outsider!) and although it wasn't my style of trading - at least we were busy and every now and again I'd get some strategy trades to get my teeth into. I enjoyed working between then and when the floor closed. It did become very quiet near the end, but it was an enjoyable experience being there. The trading floor before was fiercely competitive. Full of people who'd stitch up their best friends to make some money. I guess by the nature of how you make money in futures it could never really be completely 'friendly' - someone has to lose a pound for someone else to make it - no money is actually ever made, just transferred from one individual to another. But near the end, the floor had become an empty place, a shell of what it was before and everyone had a kind of camaraderie because of the impending closure. Whilst it was a scary thought knowing it'd actually close, it was comforting to know we were all in it together! :o)
I worked up till October 1999 and the floor finally closed in April 2000, but I was already up and trading over the internet before then.

Around November 1999, I moved out of London and up to Clacton on the Essex coast. I decided that if I was going to struggle to make money on the screens then I should cut my outgoings by as much as possible. I bought a very cheap house and prayed I'd make money... It worked :o) I did!
I'd started trading my own money (although being financially backed) on the screens and it was my first real taste of trying out my own ideas. I had plenty of guidance though, as I'd set up with a friend in Colchester who is a VERY experienced trader. We traded in the study of his house and I'm really glad I started out this way. We shared ideas, he taught me a lot of things too and showed me why I'd made mistakes with certain trades. That's not to say I ever really lost any money - it was more about learning value and knowing when to get out. I'd only ever really traded other peoples positions before this, so I was glad of his help.
In a relatively short space of time, I managed to pay off my backer and have enough funds in my account as collateral for my trading. I can't really put this down to marvellous trading :o) It was more a case of no-one else was really doing it yet and so there was lots of good obvious trading to be done! I can't remember having any losing days really for the first year! If I did, then they were only down because of costs - not due to me actually losing any money! Being a little bit successful did my trading ego some good and left me feeling like I wish I'd gone local properly years back and actually given it a chance instead of getting the 'fear' over it being my own money. Still, I've not many regrets I guess and I'm glad I got such good experience so I'm not complaining! Much of it is not easily taught and very hard to pick up for yourself. I'm not saying it's impossible though, I think that now I can teach anyone good enough trading skills to be able to pull a living out of it... And maybe one day I will! :o)

As with most things so far in my life there's always an impending disaster. This time it's a matter of an argument in our office. We'd moved out of my friends house and into an office in a small village. It wasn't just him and myself any more either, he had three other traders at the time. It was a strange argument in that it never really started and we didn't really argue. Rather it was 'nurtured' by a third party and I'll never know what he hoped to gain from it. Still, I suppose you could say that these things happen - especially in small offices and to be fair I'm more comfortable now trading from home. I undoubtedly miss far more than I did before as it's obviously better in a group environment for trading ideas as you can't possibly watch absolutely everything all of the time! Still I do okay though, I know I'm never going to be a millionaire or anything - but I guess the opportunity is there at least for me to be one. Most of all, I enjoy trading - it still excites me even now after all these years. I love the buzz you get when the market is busy and I even love the lurches my stomach makes when something I've got goes offside! It's a whole package career - there's definitely nothing else like it!

There's obviously a whole lot more to my life than this, but I'm not about to go writing about personal things on a public site. Let's just say, I've had a 'colourful' and 'eventful' life and leave it at that... This was merely just a brief glimpse at my career so far.

If any of the pictures found on this page are copyrighted - Then please contact me and I'll remove them ASAP. I honestly can't remember where they came from originally, I've had some of them for several years now and all were found freely distributed on the internet over the years.