end. What happened next?
Around that time, I would occasionally have to go over to the Cotton Exchange. I would have an adrenalin
rush when I heard the traders yelling and screaming. It seemed like the most exciting place in the world. But I
learned that I needed to show $100,000 net worth to get in. Since I had virtually no assets outside of my commodity
account, I couldn't qualify. I continued to make money in the markets, and after several months, I had surpassed the
$100,000 mark. Around that same time, Ed Seykota recommended that I go long coffee. So I did, but I put a close
stop in under the market just in case it went down. The market turned down and I was stopped out quickly. Ed,
however, because he was a major trend follower, had no stop in and ended up being locked in a limit-down market
for several days in succession.
Each day, Seykota was locked in a losing position while I was out of the market. That was the exact opposite
situation of the soybean trade, when he was in a winning trade and I was out. I couldn't help it, but I felt a sense of
joy. I asked myself, "What kind of a place is this that one's greatest joy is to be found when somebody else is getting
screwed?" That was the point I realized that what I was doing was too competitive, and I decided to become a floor
trader at the New York Cotton Exchange
It sounds like the floor would have been even more competitive.
Well, maybe, but it wasn't.
Did you have any concern about being a floor trader—the fact that you were now reducing your
field of opportunity down to one market?
I was a little concerned about it. As it turned out, I should have been very worried. However, the thought of
trading in the ring was very exciting to me. The truth of the matter was that while I was very good at picking trades,
I was a total bust at the execution part. I was very shy, and I was too timid to yell loud enough to make myself heard
on the floor. I ended up slipping my orders to a floor trader friend of mine, who handled them for me. That went on
for a few months until I realized what I was doing.
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