← Back to Trade Talk Blog
Innovation, capital efficiency and broad market access are the hallmarks of Eris Exchange, which lists standardized LIBOR interest rate swap futures offered through TT®. In this edition of “Five Questions with…,” we talk with Geoff Sharp, who recently joined Eris as head of sales. We will explore how Eris continues to innovate and attract a broad range of clients to its market.
What brought you to Eris?
Geoff: After college, I spent my entire career in OTC markets; first structuring FX and interest rate derivative strategies for Credit Suisse in London, then trading both at Lehman in Tokyo and New York. This landed me on Lehman’s OTC interest rates derivatives sales desk in 2005, and I then moved on to Nomura as it expanded its global markets franchise following Lehman’s bankruptcy.
Continue Reading →
Tags: 5 Questions / Interviews, Market Access
Anthony Crudele started on the trading floors in 1995 when he was 18 years old, and by the time he was 21, he had become one of the youngest members of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He started his trading career in the S&P 500 pit and was one of the very first people to trade the E-mini S&P 500. Today, he hosts a weekly podcast called Futures Radio Show where he shares his extensive experience as a futures trader and interviews expert guests who provide insight into what’s happening in the markets. Along with the CME Group, Trading Technologies is proud to sponsor the show and be a part of the market dialogue. We put the mic on Anthony this time for another segment of “Five Questions with…”
How did you get involved in trading, and what was your path to getting where you are now?
Anthony: I got involved in trading by accident. No, an actual accident. I was just out of high school and got into a bad car crash that changed my life forever. I had a broken femur that required many surgeries. When I got out of the hospital, I had to start rehabbing my leg, so I looked in the paper and took a job as a runner at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange—figured that would strengthen my leg! I applied for the job at the CME, got it, and before no time, I was running orders in the meat pits.
From there, I moved up to clerk in the Eurodollar options, and eventually moved my way into the S&P 500 pits. I spent a year working for a handful of great S&P pit traders, and after that year, I became a member of CME…at just 21 years old. I began trading in the S&P pit, and after blowing out my first account in less than six months, I was extremely discouraged.
One day sitting outside the S&P, one of the Globex guys approached me and asked if I would try the electronic version of the S&P…sure, why not. That electronic version was the E-mini S&P, and I became one of the first people to trade it.
My career didn’t necessarily take off from there, as I did go through one more trading account before I finally found my footing and became a profitable trader. I ended up creating my own indicators and method on the screen. There was no one out there matching my style because there were no other computer traders on the trading floor! Continue Reading →
Tags: 5 Questions / Interviews
Matthew Zimberg is the founder and president of Optimus Futures, a boutique futures trading brokerage that caters to retail and institutional traders via online trading platforms and stable data feeds, commodity trading advisors, and algorithmic trading systems. They are an independent introducing broker with multiple Futures Clearing Merchant (FCM) relationships, which allows them to deliver flexibility to their clients.
Matthew has over 18 years of experience in the futures and commodities markets and a deep understanding of low-latency trading systems, advanced technical analysis and methodologies, and trading software development. He also is a big advocate of risk management. Continue Reading →
Tags: 5 Questions / Interviews
We are continually impressed by the breadth of interesting people we encounter in the fintech arena. Whether they are traders, technologists, media or even marketers (yes, believe it or not), there are so many great stories behind the scenes from the people that make this industry exciting. So, welcome to “Five Questions with…,” a new Trade Talk series in which we interview notable market participants and technology thought leaders about a few common—and a few unique—industry-related subjects. Our first chat is with Danny Riley of MrTopStep, a multi-channel outlet dedicated to financial news and education. Danny is passionate about the industry and he educates while he entertains on his Periscope channel. Read on to learn how Danny came to found MrTopStep, what he looks for in a trading execution platform and more. And, hope you enjoy the series.
How did you get involved in trading, and what path took you to where you are now?
Danny: Less than a year after high school, I received an offer to work as a runner for Agra Trading in the grain room of the Chicago Board of Trade. As soon as I walked on the floor, I knew I wanted to be in the industry. After working in the grain pit, I moved to the bond floor, and from there, I ended up at the CME, where I built the largest-volume S&P futures desk on the floor. As the demand for open outcry decreased, I moved my desk from futures to S&P options, where I filled orders electronically.
Before leaving the floor in December of 2014, I founded a company called MrTopStep.com to help educate both professional and retail traders about many of the rules and methods I learned while on the floor. Since my move from the floor, I have had to work out the challenges of transitioning from the energy and feel of the floor to trading on the screens. I have found that volume imbalance and footprint charts have helped me recreate some of the market feel and trading rules I used on the trading floor. Continue Reading →
Tags: 5 Questions / Interviews
