First electronic quotation board at CBOT and a little bit of trivia...

Why is the second year call the "red" months? Because they used to be noted in red chalk on the wall boards rather than white chalk for the front year's contracts. So I've been told atleast...

The Speculator As Hero

It will be a very rare occasion when I stray from specifically documenting "trading pit history" but I think he following article is quite relevant to the job function of what traders do. Victor Niederhoffer, a great person and an brilliant mind, wrote the following article for a WSJ op-ed in 1989 and is linked below:

The Speculator As Hero

Amercian Stock Exchange Hand Signals

Image from TradersMagazine.com

Coming from a futures background, I've never sought after the hand signals used on the CBOE and AMEX but upon suggestions, I agree they're a worthy addition. It'll be a while before I can incorporate them into the gallery at tradingpithistory.com but in the meanwhile here is a link to a thestreet.com article and some video clips (in Real player format which is required to view them):

Easy Money: A Look at the Hand Signals Used at the Amex

Fed Head

I had a chat with a longtime CBOT member and he showed me this cap which was a memento from when Alan Greenspan visited the floor and they were handed out (in the days of Deadheads). Greenspan had his own custom cap which was given to him by the exchange, it read not Fed Head like the others but Head Fed.

SIMEX mock trading at CME

As the Singapore Mercantile Exchange is launching today with testing it's systems through mock trading, I thought it was appropriate to upload these photos of SIMEX traders mock trading and learning how to function in the pit with a trip to Chicago and the CME back in 1984. The CME gave SIMEX, now called SGX, a guiding hand in it's founding and much of SIMEX was based upon how the CME functioned. All photos are from the SunTimes archive which I purchased and own as displayed below, click on the photos or notes on reverse to enlarge.

25 Million Pounds documentary on Barings collapse

In 1996, documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis created the film 25 Million Pounds which someone was kind enough to recently post on Youtube in six, ten minute clips. The film was created shortly after the Barings collapse and has a lot of interview time w/Leeson and those who knew him. Definetly worth a watch and shows some vintage LIFFE and SIMEX footage.



Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxIfTcbnO54

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V-MqyxQ14Q

Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmskwOn7hWQ

Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwFX-lmEgJM

Part 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb2vs8rkp_Q

Barings Bank Books

I've complied a list of books directly focuses on the Barings Bank collapse through the actions taken on the SIMEX floor:

Rogue Trader - Nick Leeson

Going for Broke - Judith Rawnsley

All That Glitters - John Gapper & Nicholas Denton

The Collapse of Barings - Stephen Fay

Barings Lost - Luke Hunt & Karen Heinrich

I haven't read through every book but the most comprehensive is All That Glitters and was cowritten by Nick Denton who is now of Gawker Media fame. Rogue Trader, written by Leeson himself, leaves out some pretty important details such as his forgery charges, etc... which is why it's important to extend reading beyond Leeson's autobiography. Also should be noted that some books were published under different titles in the UK and the US.

*I didn't include the book Barings Bankruptcy and Financial Derivatives by Peter Zhang because it strayed beyond the sole focus on Barings.
**For the record the Ben Mezrich book Ugly American's also makes mention of an encounter with Leeson but I think it's slightly fictionalized like all of Mezrich's book and I regard him as a horrible writer anyways.