Dear Reader,

Yesterday was a pretty heavy article, so let’s do something a little more fun for the weekend…

Have you ever seen the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street?”

The one where Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, a young stockbroker who became very rich by selling penny stocks to rich investors…

Something no one else had been able to figure out how to do.

In the movie, Belfort is depicted as a complete degenerate. He is nose deep in drugs, prostitution, insider trading, front running…

You name it, he did it.

The first half of the movie is fun and funny, the second half is tough to watch. It shows how the Wolf falls from grace. There was a redemption arc in the end, so that was nice.  

However, first time I saw the movie I instantly believed it was a fictionalized version of the truth. Sure the volume was turned up a bit and timelines shortened…

But the story seemed basically true. It was at least believable.  

I personally saw (but didn’t take part in) most of this stuff when I worked in Chicago on the Commodities Exchange and the CBOE. 

It was interesting because the old timers trading soy and corn, et. al would smell like booze when the opening bell rang.  

On the other hand, the options traders were younger and often amped up on cocaine.

Young men, high testosterone, and a lot of money flowing around can lead to some pretty disastrous endings.

The part I never understood was how these guys, on both exchanges, functioned drunk and high.

I would have been terrified about making a bad trade if I was drinking on the job. (The nose candy and other illegal stuff was never my thing… but I did like a drink back in my 20s)

Anyway, I can’t really get into specific stories here because of length restrictions, however, perhaps on one of our Options360 I could be convinced to share of the better stories.

Not only will you get some stories of the good ol’ days, but you’ll also get high-quality options education. You may even pay for your trial with one good trade.

And I promise, I am sober as a judge when I am looking for our trades! 

To Your Success,

Steve

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P.S. There was a bar in Chicago that catered to the trading crowd. They had t-shirts that said, “Friends don’t let friends trade drunk.” It was kind of a cheeky slogan for the bar. 

Today I tell people, “Friends don’t let friends trade without Options360.” And now you can try it out for just $19.