The Eric Bolling Diaries: A Trader is Born

Eric Bolling is a 20-year veteran of the trading pits and currently serves as a contributor on “Fast Money.” Bolling owns a trading company that specializes in trading both open outcry and electronic derivatives contracts. Bolling trades all derivatives, but specializes in the energy and metal sectors. He currently accounts for up to 5% of total volume in the natural gas futures floor.

He graduated from Rollins College, Winter Park, FL.
CNBC

This is the first installment in our series…

The Eric Bolling Diaries

Congratulations on winning our 2006 Man of The Year award.  You must have struck a nerve with the public, given how much interest our post on the Nymex Holdings (NMX-NYSE) IPO generated.

Thanks for having me. Your site is one of my favorite bookmarks.

Can we talk about your childhood? What sort of environment did you grow up in?

I grew up in a very humble, lower middle class Chicago household.

Cubs or White Sox?

I rode my bicycle to Wrigley for Cub games.... I wanted to be Ryne Sandberg when I grew up.

Ryno was certainly a class act.  I lived a half a block from Wrigley Field in the summer of ‘89. What a year for the Cubs. I take it sports were a big part of your life back then?

All I wanted in life was to play pro baseball.

What about college? Did you play continue to play baseball?

You bet. I played for Rollins College, a small school in Florida- A powerhouse in sports that had a pretty decent academic agenda as well.  I still remember my very first real trade. In my sophomore year, I took all the money I had in the world and bought Exxon call options.

That will not surprise my readers. What was your first job on Wall Street?

I worked summers in 1982 and 1983 as a runner on the CBOT for $150/ week. It allowed me to continue playing baseball in the summer.

I take it you were able to leave mid-afternoon given the trading hours in those pits. The CBOT was very clubby back then. How did you break into the business?

Caught the trading bug then. It was always in the back of my mind.... I really liked the competitive nature of trading. After being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates and a subsequent injury, I was forced to look for a job and trading was my new pursuit.

What was your largest draw down?

I have always traded for myself and the draw down math does not apply. I have always traded aggressively and swings will occur.

You seem to have a good grasp of charts ...what kind of technical inputs did you use back then?

Finally, we get to my favorite topic. The Charts! I can attribute most of my success in my learning the charts early and having enough confidence in them to stay with them for my whole career. I still have the first point-and-figure chart I ever made. 1986 December crude oil. You used to have to draw the points and reversals by hand. Now, I use a series of TA tools for EVERY trade I make.... no exceptions..

I take it you are quite disciplined in your trading. It seems to be a common trait in Top Traders. Any exceptions?

Nope. Take losses and move on if it comes to that. One recurring theme in my strategy is to cut your losses and let your profits run...and run.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME-NYSE) was long considered the upstart to the more established CBOT (BOT-NYSE). Two home runs there. What is the biggest challenge to the CBOT/CME merger in your opinion?

I see the whole Exchange sector as a “buy the dip” group. Obviously, I own restricted shares of NMX but still feel that the derivatives space is growing at a blistering pace and that high P/Es are more sustainable in companies and sectors that are growing faster than the market. As far as challenges, I think Chicago needs to manage growth by spending the money necessary to stay ahead of the technology curve.

One thing is for sure...analysts covering financials finally have something fun to do...

Thanks Eric...get back to work and go make some money...we will see you soon...

Stay tuned for Part Two of The Eric Bolling Diaries:

Life in the Pits
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The content contained represents the opinions of 1440 Wall Street. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author. Eric Bolling has long positions in NMX and ICE. StockJockey has no positions in any securities mentioned.

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