The Night Nobody Showed but Tim

Dear Trader,

I’d like to tell you a story about a friend of mine that shows how great he is, but also makes me feel vulnerable writing about.

As you may or may not know, Tim Colby is going live on Thursday night at 7 pm to launch his brand new trading tool and trading service.

I thought you would appreciate this story.

I started working with Tim on my very first day at Group One. We were friends in New York while we were coworkers. We would have a beer and make jokes. We trained and traded together. We were teammates. That was not how it felt with most of my co-workers

While I enjoyed New York for most of the people that worked at Group 1, my personality was not what you would call ‘well liked’. I was kinda happy go lucky (I know shocker) and they were… not.

After two years, I moved back to Chicago and began trading on the CBOE.

Tim and I lost contact for several years. I had no reason to go to New York, and why would any good New York centric person ever need to visit Chicago?

Seriously, unless the Mets and/or Yankees are playing at Wrigley Field, New Yorkers only go to Chicago for business and then fly home.

So, I didn’t see or talk to Tim for over 3 years.

Then in late 2006, I got sent out to New York for business. Many of the same co-workers were there, but Tim wasn’t. He had switched firms. Once the opening died down, I turned off my computer and went down to the floor. I talked to all my old Group 1 traders and asked if they wanted to have a beer after the close.

“That sounds great” was what I heard from several of those guys.

As I walked from post to post I finally ran into Tim. We hugged each other and had some pleasantries. As I was moving on I said, you're still cool with all the Group 1 people right? To which he replied yes.

I then invited him out to join us for drinks. “Ill be there at 5:00, he said.”

Well, after the close, at the Group 1 Office, I asked who was ready to go grab a beer at Moran’s (the closest decent bar to the office).

Everyone at Group 1 had a reason to not have a drink. We were older, some of them had kids, others just said ‘pass’ or they were tired. I had forgotten that most of these guys were neutral to bearish on Mark Sebastian stock.

I hung around the office for a bit, talked to a few people then headed out to grab a beer with the one intern I could talk into going, and I had to bribe him by saying I'd pay.

Then Tim walked in. A guy I hadn’t talked to for more than 5 minutes on the floor and hadn't seen in over 3 years showed up when no one else did.

Was it because he said he would, was he excited to see me? I don’t know why he felt the need to come (you’ll have to ask him). But he did and it meant the world to me.

This interaction turned a working teammate into a dear friend for me. We exchanged numbers, started talking markets, and never lost contact again.

I'm pretty sure I’ve never told him this story or how much just being a good guy and showing up meant to me.

So I encourage you to show up for Tim like he did for me. Join him tomorrow when he goes live tomorrow night at 7PM ET and drops all the details for his Macro Gauntlet and his new trading service.

Your only option,

Mark Sebastian

Mark Sebastian

Mark Sebastian

Mark Sebastian is a former member of both the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), where he spent years mastering the art of options trading in the most competitive environment imaginable. As Chief Investment Officer at the hedge fund Karman Line Capital, Mark manages sophisticated options strategies for institutional clients. He is the author of two highly regarded books on options trading: ‘The Option Traders Hedge Fund’ and ‘Trading Options for Edge.’ Mark is a frequent guest on major financial networks including CNBC, Fox Business News, Bloomberg, and First Business News, where he provides expert commentary on market volatility and options strategies.

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About the Author

Mark Sebastian

Mark Sebastian

Former CBOE floor trader and CIO at Karman Line Capital. Author of ‘The Option Traders Hedge Fund’ with over 30 years of options trading experience.

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