The Path To Electronic Trading

The Path to Electronic Trading was inspired by the success of the Open Outcry Traders History Project. Gerry Corcoran, the CEO of RJ O’Brien, came to JLN to tell the story of how his one day of working on the trading floor helped create the path to electronic trading as RJO and other firms applied technology to improve the efficiency of a futures pit busting at the seams with paper orders. 

His story inspired us to develop this new video series that will capture the individual stories of the people and firms that embraced technology and created the evolutionary path from the shouting of orders on the trading floor to trading all forms of derivatives, securities and other products via purely electronic means. 

The Path to Electronic Trading series will capture stories from the beginning of order routing to trading floors, to after hour trading, then side-by-side trading and eventually just electronic trading. It will take us from TOPS, CUBS, Electronic Clerks and COMET to CME’s Globex and Globex II, the CBOT’s Project A to a/c/e and LIFFE Connect. It will take us from the NYSE to the ECNs and beyond. The series will address electronic options trading inspired by the ISE’s entry to the response by CBOE and other exchanges. And it will even go as far as trading in tokens and the Defi trading space and DEX exchanges.

We welcome suggestions for individuals to interview. Suggestions can be emailed to johnlothian@johnlothian.com.

Trader Videos

MIKE UNETICH: THE PATH TO ELECTRONIC TRADING

MIKE UNETICH: THE PATH TO ELECTRONIC TRADING

Mike Unetich always liked trading and investing classes in college and in fact started trading options from his dorm room. He saw newspaper ads for option floor clerks and through some friends who worked at Spear, Leeds & Kellogg in New York was referred to DRW in...

GERRY CORCORAN – THE PATH TO ELECTRONIC TRADING

GERRY CORCORAN – THE PATH TO ELECTRONIC TRADING

R.J. O’Brien CEO Gerry Corcoran spent just one day working on the trading floor, during the drought of the summer of 1988. He was a new CFO for the brokerage firm and it was an all hands on deck day due to a severe drought that was causing huge volatility on the grain...

DAN GRAMZA – THE PATH TO ELECTRONIC TRADING

DAN GRAMZA – THE PATH TO ELECTRONIC TRADING

Dan Gramza sat for an interview with John Lothian News for the MarketsWiki Education The Path to Electronic Trading video series. Gramza tells the story of how he got started in trading with stock options in 1974. In 1980, he moved to the Chicago Board Options...