I traded on the exchange floor for ten years and, then, helped manage Chicago-based futures clearing firms, Gerald Inc. and Rand Financial Services, Inc. During this same time, my brother-in-law, Russ Page, who traded next to me on the floor for years, went from trading on the floor to trading upstairs on the electronic screen.

By 2000, Russ had become a highly successful electronic trader. One day in late-2000, I sat down next to Russ to start my career as an electronic trader, trading DAX, just like him.

I assumed, as most floor traders assume, that my trading skills from the floor would transfer to the screen and I would have a fairly easy time making money.

On that first day I traded DAX, not even knowing what a tick was worth. I bought and sold DAX contracts like I was playing a video game. I was just trading one-lots, so how much could it cost?

After an hour, or so, of trading DAX, I decided to look and see how much I had lost. I knew that I was behind, but assumed my loss was a small amount because every trade was a one-lot and I had made money on some of the trades (great trader that I was).

I was shocked to find that after less than an hour, I was down almost $1,000.

This wasn’t me.

I was a conservative trader who prided himself on making money nearly every day.

At that moment, I realized that electronic trading was not just a variation of floor trading, but a whole different animal requiring a completely different set of skills.

Learning to trade on the electronic screen at $1,000 an hour did not seem like a very good plan, so I decided to develop my own plan.

First, I decided that the bund was more my speed than the DAX.

Next, I decided to trade one-lots of bund with a 20 tick daily limit.

Lastly, I decided that I was simply going to figure out how to make ticks.

I was not going to care about making meaningful money or even whether I was covering commissions with my trades. I was just going to make ticks. Not very exciting, but it seemed like something that I could do - make a tick here and make a tick there.

Over time, I was able to be positive in terms of ticks nearly every day.

It seems to me after coaching dozens, if not hundreds of traders, that this is the way to move from a floor trader/electronic trader wanabe to a professional screen trader.

I have seen many formerly successful floor traders fail as electronic traders. I believe that the reason so many floor traders do not succeed as screen-based traders is that they are unwilling to put forth the emotional effort and the hard work necessary for success on the screen. They are unwilling to start over again as a one-lot trader just trying to make a tick at a time.

However, for those former floor traders willing to start over and learn the new skill of screen-based trading, the rewards can be substantial. Looking at the opportunities available today on the trading floor and on the screen, it is clear that screen-based trading represents the future of trading.

And, I predict a wonderful future.

Wishing you success in your trading,
Jeff

For more of Jeff’s articles on trading, go to www.JeffQuinto.com or check out his website for serious traders at www.TransformativeTrading.com.