Editor's note: Veteran trader Jonathan Rose spent decades on the floors of Chicago's biggest exchanges. That's where he learned to read the market's rhythm in real time. And on the trading floor, chaos rules. But amid the chaos, one lesson stood out: the biggest profits don't come from predicting the market.
Now at our corporate affiliate InvestorPlace, Jonathan is using his background to teach his readers how they can trade with a professional edge. In this piece, he explains the trading secret that inspired his Masters in Trading system... and how he spots his most profitable opportunities.
The smell hit me first: sweat, paper, and burned coffee.
Then came the sound.
A wall of shouting voices, phones ringing, and bells clanging. Paper tickets spun through the air like confetti at a riot.
My first day on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange ("CME") is seared into my memory. It's the largest futures exchange in the world.
I had just graduated from the University of Miami. But I wasn't chasing an office job with a cubicle and a steady paycheck... I wanted to be the master of my own destiny. I wanted to be a trader.
So at 22 years old, I spent the summer of 1997 trading shoulder-to-shoulder with guys who'd been doing this longer than I'd been alive.
My stomach was in knots. My tie was a little too tight. But I knew I was exactly where I wanted to be.
It was where I would soon learn to ignore what most folks pay attention to... and focus instead on a market that most people don't even know about.
It helped apprentice traders double their accounts in less than 12 months. And in one of my trading advisories, it has helped me close 49 winning trades with an average gain of 267%. We've even landed wins as high as 2,785% in just 26 days.
Today, I'll show you the simple shift that made it possible – and how you can join me for the next big trade I'm tracking...
The Hardest Year of My Life
My first year in the pit was the hardest of my life.
If you've seen the Eddie Murphy movie Trading Places, you've seen what I lived every single day on the floor of the CME trading pit...
I was trading futures on the tech-dominated Nasdaq. These contracts let you bet on where the market was headed without ever owning stocks.
This was near the height of the dot-com boom. I watched guys make more money in a week than most people make in a lifetime.
Meanwhile, I was that rookie making all the wrong moves – no big wins, just mounting frustration.
As I later learned, it wasn't bad luck. It was a symptom of a losing approach.
The Secret Hidden in Plain Sight
Things only started to click when I stopped pretending I knew everything and started listening.
I bought rounds of coffee and donuts just to steal a few minutes with veteran traders. And one day, I spotted something that changed my life...
A mismatch – a tiny price gap between what was happening in the pit and what was flashing on our new electronic trading screens.
It was a crack in the system. And importantly, I realized I could exploit it without predicting anything.
No need to guess interest rates... jobs data... or the Federal Reserve's next move. I just had to react to what was in front of me.
I started making $5,000, $10,000, even $15,000 a day. By the end of the year, I'd turned my $315,000 account into more than $1.2 million.
It taught me a lesson I've never forgotten...
Success doesn't come from guessing the next move. It comes from reacting to what's already happening, faster and sharper than everyone else.
It's what launched a career most traders can only dream of.
At 33 years old, I was hired as director of trading at one of Chicago's top trading firms. I made small fortunes at a time when the S&P 500 Index was getting cut in half – including $2.3 million in 2007 and $4 million in 2008.
Then, I became a market maker on the floor of the world's largest options exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange ("CBOE").
But it wasn't until 2015 that I found my true passion: teaching regular investors how to trade like pros...
Passing the Torch
I launched my Masters in Trading business to teach the systems and mindset I learned over my two decades in the trenches.
I started using this trading style at InvestorPlace in May 2024. And in that time, we've closed 49 winning trades at an average gain of 267% over an average hold time of just 36 days.
I do it by applying the same lesson I learned on those noisy trading floors...
Instead of trying to guess where the market is headed, I react to what the pros are already doing. I look for deep-pocketed traders placing big bets in the options market – often before the underlying stock moves.
Think of it as reading the footprints of Wall Street's smartest traders.
When I see a surge of unusual Wall Street activity, I use the instincts I honed on the floor to make sure it's the real deal. Then I open a small, risk-controlled position, with the goal of cashing out within a few weeks.
It's how I recommended winning trades like AI-software developer C3.ai (AI), which we closed for a 462% gain... lithium producer Albemarle (ALB), which we closed for a 959% gain... and rare-earth miner MP Materials (MP), which we closed for a 1,234% gain.
Again, I'm not predicting the future. I'm simply following the smart money in real time.
On Monday, November 10, at 1 p.m. Eastern time, I'm hosting my Profit Surge Event to show you how to do the same...
I'll reveal the setup I'm calling the "Trade of the Decade." It's the same kind of pattern I used to target those 10-bagger wins on MP and Albemarle.
And remember, if you've ever wanted to trade with the confidence of a floor veteran – without the chaos, the caffeine, or the knot in your stomach – don't get caught up in predictions...
React in the now – and follow the smart money.
Good investing,
Jonathan Rose
Editor's note: Thanks to one move, we could be entering the most profitable 12-month window for the stock market in decades. That's why three InvestorPlace legends just selected their favorite stock recommendations across all their services. And on Monday, they'll show you how to supercharge these recommendations by 500% or more using Jonathan's system. Don't miss this powerful new breakthrough that tracks Wall Street's hidden bets.
Further Reading
Big breakthroughs rarely start in boardrooms. From self-driving cars to smart rings, the next trillion-dollar ideas reveal themselves through firsthand experience. As truly great tech investors know, the future won't arrive all at once... It'll quietly wrap around us, one tiny computer at a time.
For decades, academics swore the market was unbeatable. Then came an AI breakthrough that turned their math against them. What began as a debate in 1984 has ended with a revolution... And now, it's giving everyday investors an edge that Wall Street spent decades trying to hide.