A 1988 Chicago Trading Pit documentary accidentally described the exact reason 90 percent of modern retail traders will never stop until they blow up. The film was shot in the peak years of open outcry, back when trading meant shouting yourself hoarse in a physical pit, taking speech therapy... at Schwab Rehabilitation Center, and sometimes ending up in the medic's chair with a busted lip from a fistfight over a trade. At 16:34 in the film above, one trader said this. "When I first started I heard stories of other traders making 50 or 100 thousand a day. I said if I made that kind of money I would quit. I would take the summer off. When I had my first five-figure day, ten thousand plus, I found myself in the pit the next day." He made his summer's worth of money in one session. He came back the next morning. Every retail trader today who says "if I just double my account I'll cash out" is that trader. Every day-trader who promised themselves they would quit after their first six-figure year is that trader. Every options gambler who tells their spouse "one more good week and I stop" is that trader. The 1988 documentary called it the game. The people who stayed in it called it being a gladiator. The paramedics on duty at the exchange called it a job. Modern brokers call it engagement. Every Robinhood push notification is designed to reproduce the pit floor without the paramedics. That single confession from a Chicago pit trader in 1988 has probably explained the last four decades of retail blowups better than every behavioral finance textbook combined. Retail traders build spreadsheets tracking P&L in real time because they cannot look away from the score. Options traders open the app on the toilet because the pit is now in their pocket. Prop shop hires get told the money is what matters when the actual driver is the same dopamine that trapped the 1988 gladiator. The full 19-minute documentary is above. Almost none of the viewers have actually asked themselves what number would make them walk. The framework is free. The willingness to actually name the number that ends the game before you get there is the entire edge.show more

The number never holds, because the money was never the reward. The refresh is. A trader wired to the score just moves the number the day he hits it. The real exit isn't a target, it's killing the loop that makes the next tick feel like oxygen.

exactly the goalpost moves because the dopamine is in the action, not the balance

The pit at least had a closing bell. The app follows you home.

During the LTCM shitshow I made $3million in 6 trading days in the crowds at the CBOE. Didn’t take a day off for 11 months during that stretch. Then I got married & took a 10 day Hawaiian honeymoon. Couldn’t wait to get back to Chicago & swing the bat again.

I miss it every day, but glad i was there.

Seems like Chicago has been going straight down since the introduction of electronic trading and the pits closed.

the hardest part isn't making money, it's knowing when enough is enough

once you're in the pit, your brain stops doing that math

Thank you for sharing. I must go watch Trading Places now!

You in here somewhere @OHare888 ?

Old school. Good times.

thank you

a documentary is for people who need thirty-seven years of distance to recognize a pattern that was never actually hidden. the pit is gone. the reason nobody stops is still standing in the room with you right now.

@PitTrading101 Good times

@PitTrading101 thank

“A fist fight will flare up” 🤣

These mfers were screaming on vacation to make sure they were good for the pits when they came back 😭 thank god for the screens

It's like the challenge of getting to the top of a mountain. Unfortunately, too many become reckless, and don't survive the fall.

@grok 1988? Which channel?

The gambler's prayer: God, please let me get unstuck, I'll never gamble again. A-man.

Wow! For those that understand what's going on here, this was absolutely fascinating and highly entertaining

Cuz they were pure discretionary. Systematic is the way to go

This guy's and girls on suits are now the guys from YouTube.

yes, you are right

I did this successfully for years. (1988-2012). For me, the screen took the edge I had away (I always legged spreads). I have about three friends who could make the transition (independent pit trader to point-and-click screen trader). They trade very differently today than they used to. Capital costs, far different.

Making the money is the exciting part, not owning it. It's why billionaire investors keep working. They love the grind.

I’ve been there for a tour and simulation a few years back when I was in college. Takes a different breed for that…

Some really brilliant and some complete nonsense in the comments…but that defines what a market is I guess

I worked there as a runner in 1995/6 for Louis Dreyfus. It was great times.