Chicago Board of trade

[PokerSpaz]

How would one get a job there or internship there. Do you really have to know someone.

If anyone had information on who to call...that would be great.

I am really want to learn about the financial world.

[jman3232]

My dad works there, and from what I hear it is very difficult to get any kind of a job.

[fun160]

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How would one get a job there or internship there? Do you really have to know someone?

[/ QUOTE ]

No chance. All the financial business has migrated to the screen and the grains are going that way. The bond pit used to be packed with 600 people a day. Now you could shoot a gun through the pit and not hit anyone.

The broker groups have laid off most of their staff or closed up shop. Most of the prop groups are now off the floor. You used to need to know someone. Now there's nobody to know.

It's all very sad. I loved being a local on the CBOT floor and was very disappointed when they moved my cheese.

[CrushinFelt]

I have jut been offered a job (which I will of course take) by the CME which is trying to buy the CBOT. It wasn't hard if you just look and/or make a contact.

[mrbaseball]

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How would one get a job there or internship there

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Doing what? Working for the exchange or working for a trading firm? Floor operations as previously stated are dwindling. Most of the futures business has transferred to the screen. Options business is still dominated by the floor however. I'm pretty positive the exchange itself won't have any opportunities since it will be merging with someone soon and they are streamlining as floor ops continue to decrease.

I'm sitting in the CBOT right now waiting for the markets to open but I don't really have any advise how to hook on with a firm. Best chance is just to try get your foot in the door with a trading firm by old fashioned networking. I know where I am there wouldn't be any chances. Finding firms active in options trading and starting out as a trade checker or runner is probably your best bet. Most of those positions are gotten by people who know someone though.

[fanmail]

What do you trade, mrbaseball?

[wiseheart]

When did CBOT start losing floortraders?

Im just curious cause I remember going there in 1999
and it was just as I had been told, packed with floor
traders who were yelling/cursing/holding up hand signals
and at the last minute of trading a fight broke out...
good times.

[fun160]

[ QUOTE ]
When did CBOT start losing floor traders?

Im just curious cause I remember going there in 1999
and it was just as I had been told, packed with floor
traders who were yelling/cursing/holding up hand signals
and at the last minute of trading a fight broke out...
good times.

[/ QUOTE ]

Things turned a couple years later. It's bad over at the Merc as well. The Eurodollars are very heavily traded. Except for the options and far back months it's all gone to the screen. I have a friend who is a local (i.e. independent market maker) in 3rd and 4th month Eurodollar futures. He said there are two (count 'em, two!) brokers left in his pit.

[mrbaseball]

[ QUOTE ]
What do you trade, mrbaseball?

[/ QUOTE ]

Lots of stuff! I really do trade just about everything nowadays. Screen trading has made it easier to follow a lot of different markets. Mostly stock indicies, currencies, and energies in the futures markets. I have also traded grains, meats, metals, softs and interest rates. I started out in treasuries. But I also manage an in house fund of stock options (this isn't real time consuming) and have a couple of arb trades I keep an eye on and trade when the opportunity presents itself.

[stinkypete]

one thing i always wondered but never bothered to research:

what's the advantage of being on the trading floor rather than in front of a computer screen?