Open Outcry Traders History Project
John J. Lothian & Company, Inc., MarketsWiki Education and John Lothian Productions are pleased to announce plans for a large scale video project to collect the history of the open outcry era and traders’ personal stories.
Additionally, John Lothian Productions plans to develop video documentaries about specific themes and subjects emerging from the collected personal histories.
The project is modeled on the Veterans History Project signed into law by President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. In this case, rather than capturing the experiences of veterans of warfare and conflict, we are capturing the personal market experiences of those who participated in open outcry markets around the world. Traders from Chicago to London to Paris to Sydney to Singapore and beyond are welcome to submit videos.
Trader Videos
KENNY POLCARI – OPEN OUTCRY TRADERS HISTORY PROJECT PART 2
When Kenny Polcari started out at the New York Stock Exchange, “It was paper and pencil until the turn of the century,” he said. The exchange started to introduce handheld computers in the late 1990s, but it was only in beta, not full blown yet. Everyone was...
KENNY POLCARI – OPEN OUTCRY TRADERS HISTORY PROJECT PART 1
When he was young, Kenny Polcari wanted to be in politics – preferably to eventually be president of the United States. But, he said, “Thank God none of that came true.” When he was 19, he interned on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. He knew nothing about the...
TOM GREENE CELEBRATES 50 YEARS ON WALL STREET AT NYSE
HEAD OF NYSE TRADING FLOORS WORKED HIS WAY FROM RUNNER TO HEAD OF COTTON EXCHANGE AND ON TO NYSE TRADING FLOOR HEAD Tom Greene wanted to be a civil servant, perhaps a fireman, when he was growing up. However, despite his best efforts, those jobs went to returning...
DOUG ENGMANN – PART TWO – OPEN OUTCRY TRADERS HISTORY PROJECT
When Doug Engmann, chairman of Sage Brokerage Holdings, chose to expand his business to other exchanges, it was the late Jack Wing, Chairman Emeritus of Chicago Corporation, who helped him make the decision. Sage, unlike other clearing firms at the time, Engmann...
DOUG ENGMANN – OPEN OUTCRY TRADERS HISTORY PROJECT – PART ONE
A young Doug Engmann once had hopes of becoming a professional baseball player. Despite his continued love of the sport, his early career goals eventually shifted from the game of baseball to the game of investing. Throughout his career, Engmann employed a...
VETERAN TRADER JOE CORONA TALKS FREELY IN HIS OPEN OUTCRY TRADERS HISTORY PROJECT INTERVIEW – PART ONE
Joe Corona’s Open Outcry Traders History Project story is a frank discussion of someone who stumbled into the markets as a temporary gig on his way to another career that never happened. Joe started a career in the markets after a friend of a friend helped him get a...
BRUCE WILLIAMS – HE FOUND LOVE OF OPEN OUTCRY TRADING THROUGH TENNIS – PART ONE
WILLIAMS SPOKE TO JOHN LOTHIAN NEWS FOR THE OPEN OUTCRY TRADERS HISTORY PROJECT Bruce Williams was a South Side Chicago street smart kid who found his way to the markets through tennis. As a youth, Williams had dreams of being a professional tennis player, and it was...
BRUCE WILLIAMS – HE FOUND LOVE OF OPEN OUTCRY TRADING THROUGH TENNIS – PART TWO
WILLIAMS SPOKE TO JOHN LOTHIAN NEWS FOR THE OPEN OUTCRY TRADERS HISTORY PROJECT Bruce Williams met Blair Hull when both were on a joint CBOT-CBOE committee for a new equity product where different versions would trade at the exchanges. Williams was in the Major Market...
LARRY ABRAMS PART TWO: TRADER, “NEW YORK JEW” AND MAGICIAN
TRADER LARRY ABRAMS TALKS ABOUT HIS CAREER FOR THE OPEN OUTCRY TRADERS HISTORY PROJECT In part two of the JLN MarketsWiki Education Open Outcry Traders History Project interview with Larry Abrams, he talks about the emotionally draining market openings every day, his...
YRA HARRIS – OPEN OUTCRY TRADERS HISTORY PROJECT – PART 2
Currency Trader Yra Harris Says Early Days of the CME Offered Near-Boundless Opportunity, Taught Him Market is Always Right In the early days of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, economic opportunity was phenomenal, said CME currency trader Yra Harris. ”I used to say...
YRA HARRIS – OPEN OUTCRY TRADERS HISTORY PROJECT – PART 1
Veteran Currency Trader Yra Harris Found His Way Onto the Floor, Later Embraced Electronic Trading Yra Harris was on a career track to become a college professor in the 1970s, earning a master’s degree in economics. But when he came home from school his parents gave...
LARRY ABRAMS – OPEN OUTCRY TRADERS HISTORY PROJECT – PART 1
Larry Abrams’ career started with a chance encounter on a ski lift which was prompted by a good deed. He and some friends helped to push a stranded car that was stuck during a blizzard in Park City, Utah. The next day on the lift line he was paired with the man whose...