This weekend I'm in New York, where my trading career started. That career led to Option Pit, which turned 16 in April.
But something you might not know: before Option Pit, there was Option911.
The year is 2009 and blogging is just starting to take off. I was still a market maker (the trader who quotes a price to buy and a price to sell all day and takes the other side of your order).
I wanted in on this "blogging thing." I wanted to write about what I was seeing, demystify options a bit, and help people with their trading problems. There was even a spot to ask me questions.
In options-blog terms, the thing kinda took off. I had a little blog pulling 1,000 to 2,000 reads every time I wrote.
That doesn't sound like much. Our corner of the world was tiny back then, and for an independent options blog it was a decent footprint.
What pushed me over the edge were the questions people sent. Some were rudimentary, some were about position management, and they kept coming.
So I started an options education and trading business built to feel like standing in the pits. Hence Option Pit.
We incorporated in April of 2010, but we didn't really launch until late summer. While we built the website, wrote the trader's textbook, and put together every other thing we THOUGHT was cool, I kept blogging. People kept reading.
Then one day in late May, after we incorporated but before the site went live, I got an email. A recruiter from Jim Cramer's site TheStreet was hunting for traders who could produce options content. They'd read my writing and asked me to join.
Writing for them taught me plenty about running a business, and just as much about what not to do. I also made real friends out of my managers and my editor, Jill.
That job opened doors I would never have found on my own. I rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq and the closing bell at the Cboe.
I had some genuinely odd conversations with Jim Cramer, and eventually I wrote his VIX research for Mad Money. VIX is the index that tracks what traders are paying for protection on the S&P 500, so when it spikes, people are scared.
I stayed nine years, until the people I liked started filing out. When Jill quit… so did I.
What I've learned since: when you're friends with the people you work with, the job doesn't feel like work. Once she bolted, it felt like work. Six months later I was gone.
That's a big part of why I love what I've built at Option Pit. Between the traders you see and the people behind the scenes you don't, every day is both a challenge and a good time. I'll still be close with these people in 20 years.
Which brings me back to the wedding. That editor who made writing at TheStreet relaxed and fun? I'm in town for hers. Congratulations, Jill and Michael.
If you're not part of our community but you like what my team and I put out, change that.
Ticker Highlight Show Premium is the one product ALL of our Ticker Highlight traders run together, and you name your own price. Want to join for a buck? Be my guest.
Your only option,
Mark Sebastian