I had just graduated from the University of Miami – sun still on my skin, confidence in my step – and Chicago was calling louder than any beach could.
I wasn’t chasing an office job with a cubicle and a steady paycheck.
I wanted the real thing: the noise, the chaos, the chance to test myself in the fire.
So I walked into the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) for the first time in the summer of 1998. For those who don’t know, the CME is a major derivatives marketplace in Chicago.
And options? They’re like short or long-term bets on a stock’s direction. Think it’s going up? Buy calls. Think it’s going down? Sell puts.
I’d been training my whole adult life for this moment. And even now, the memories of my first day on the floor are as vivid as ever.
The First Day of My Trading Career
The smell hit me first: sweat, paper, and burnt coffee. Then the sound.
A wall of voices shouting bids and offers. Phones ringing. Bells clanging. Paper tickets flying through the air like confetti.
It was a storm in every sense of the word.
I was just 22 years old. I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with men two and three times my age who’d been trading longer than I’d been alive.
I was nervous. My tie was a little too tight. But I knew I was exactly where I wanted to be.
I didn’t know it then, but those first steps onto the floor would shape everything that came after.
That was where I learned what really separates traders who survive from traders who wash out.
And it’s precisely where I learned how the markets really work.
It’s not about the inflated expectations of Wall Street – or the tall tales CEOs tell investors.
It’s all about a hidden side of the market that few regular investors ever really get to see. I discovered that hidden market working at the CME – and I learned everything I know about trading today from that key experience.
It’s absolutely essential that you understand how that side of the stock market works.
In a year marked by tariff war drama and escalating geopolitical conflicts, the best edge any trader can get is the same intel that institutional traders, hedge funds, and investment banks all use to find market-beating trades.
And I’ve got something very special planned to show you exactly how to gain that same edge they all have.
It’s a special presentation designed to show you how to gain the upper hand in the options market leveraging the same intel that all the biggest players use every day.
I know some of you may be a little overwhelmed by the idea of trading options. Trust me – I was when I first walked onto the floor of the CME.
But options aren’t some complex nightmare for traders to navigate. They’re simple, effective, and one of the best tools I know to maximize your profit potential on any stock.
You won’t regret signing up and seeing what my system has to offer – all free to check out for a limited time. So make sure you sign up right here.
Now let me show you exactly how my experiences on the CME floor shaped the approach I still use today to execute hugely profitable trades.
Learning How to Win the Hard Way
I knew I wasn’t going to be one of those traders who washed out. I had to make the most of the opportunity in front of me.
So that first year at the CME was my proving ground. And believe me when I say it was one of the toughest years of my life.
It was the height of the dot-com boom and the floor still rattled with the complete chaos of the open outcry pits.
I was trading Nasdaq futures, surrounded by the best in the business, watching guys make more in a few weeks than most people make in a lifetime.
I watched them very closely that first year while making one losing bet after another.
Ever had a trade go completely sideways on you?
So much of my first year was about learning from one mistake after another. Often with thousands on the line.
For a long time, I was that trader making all the wrong moves. No significant returns. Just frustration and wondering what I was doing wrong.
All those losses during my first year taught me something critical:
A losing trade isn’t usually just bad luck. It’s the result of a losing approach.
The Moment That Changed Everything
It wasn’t until I really started to gel with the other traders that something clicked.
I’d chat with any trader on the floor who’d listen. I’d buy rounds of coffee and donuts just to steal time with the more experienced traders around me.
The thing is, I didn’t realize how lucky I was to be there. I took it all for granted.
I was surrounded by traders who actually knew how to manage risk on every single trade.
They saw something in the markets I had a hard time seeing myself.
These guys were watching implied volatility and historical movement like hawks. They exploited pricing discrepancies for their edge.
One trader I knew netted a massive payday after spotting something peculiar: a whole wave of bullish call buying on one natural gas stock that tipped off the options market.
Institutional traders were betting the stock was about to rally before most retail traders had a clue.
It was clear institutional money was getting in position for a big move. And if all you did was watch the regular stock market, you had no idea what was happening.
For traders like me, it was different. We had the intel.
Actually, that’s the beauty of options. You can see the clear patterns of buying in the markets as long as you’re looking.
That’s when everything finally clicked for me.
And that’s when I started to plot a way to make my mark at the CME.
The Trade That Changed It All
It all happened so suddenly. I can still remember getting goosebumps when I discovered a single, massive trading opportunity hiding in plain sight.
I found an arbitrage opportunity — a tiny price mismatch between what was happening on the floor and what was flashing on those new computer terminals that had just been installed.
I didn’t overthink it. I just traded it.
And suddenly, it was like that scene in The Matrix where one of the characters explains that he can see the simulated world of the title through all the sprawling lines of code on his computer screen.
That hidden component of the stock market? It was all those options trades hiding in plain sight driven by the biggest institutions in the world.
Things kicked into high gear for me.
Day after day, I was pulling in five, ten, even fifteen thousand dollars. By the end of that year, I’d turned a $315,000 account into more than $1.2 million.
That experience taught me one of the most important lessons of my career: success doesn’t come from knowing everything.
It comes from spotting what others miss — and having the courage to act on it.
I took that market edge and used it to build a career most people dream about.
I went from trading Nasdaq futures on the floor to becoming a partner and Director of Trading at a prop firm that grew to over a hundred traders.
I made millions during some of the toughest market years in history – including 2008, when the world was falling apart.
Later, I became a market maker at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the number-one options exchange in the world.
For a long time, I was focused on performance – making the next big trade, outsmarting the market, growing my accounts.
But after two decades, I realized something was missing.
The money was great – but over time, the thrill started to fade. What was I really building?
I didn’t just want to make money for myself. I wanted to help others do it too.
I wanted to teach people how to think like a professional trader – how to find real edges, manage risk, and build consistency.
That’s when I decided to pivot.
A Community of Like-Minded Traders
I’d spent two decades surrounded by some of the sharpest minds in finance, and I realized something most of Wall Street still refuses to admit:
This game isn’t reserved for the elite.
The difference between the pros and everyone else isn’t intelligence or pedigree – it’s access, process, and discipline.
So I set out to prove it.
I wanted to show that normal, everyday people – teachers, engineers, retirees, small business owners – could learn this skill just like I did.
I firmly believe that if you put the right tools and information in the hands of regular people, they can trade the same setups, manage risk the same way, and grow their accounts without needing a Wall Street background or a million-dollar bankroll.
That’s why I founded Masters in Trading.
I took the same systems and mindset I learned as a market maker and made them teachable.
I created a community where traders can learn together, where we strip away the noise and focus on what actually works: strategy, structure, and execution.
For me, Masters in Trading isn’t about showing off returns – it’s about showing what’s possible.
It’s about proving that with the right tools and a little guidance, anyone can start trading with confidence and consistency.
While I’m still proud every time we reel in a wing-dinger of a trade, I no longer measure my success by my portfolio.
These days I measure my performance by the number of members who become confident, self-directed traders.
I’ve trained hundreds of people who went on to trade for a living. Some have even built their own firms.
But what drives me every day is seeing that spark – that moment when someone realizes, “I can actually do this.”
I’ve seen it firsthand. I’ve watched members go from blowing up their accounts to becoming profitable traders. I’ve watched others grow small portfolios into real, life-changing money.
And that’s what keeps me doing this – not the trades, not the markets, but the people.
Real Results, Real Community: From Confusion to Confidence
One of my favorite stories is from one of my community members who goes by Mycha.
He’d never traded options before joining my program, but he came in with an open mind and a boat load of curiosity.
Within three months, he was booking gains of 710% and even 2,850% on trades he never would’ve taken before.
Or Brian, a father who faced over $700,000 in unexpected medical bills. He committed $200,000 to my strategy and doubled it in under a year.
Now, let me tell you about loyal viewer Eddie. He used the principles he’s learned from the community to spotlight one major stock flying under the radar with bullish call buying.
The ticker? Krispy Kreme (DNUT) – a chain many of you are no doubt familiar with.
Eddie spotted something the market was missing: Over 22,000 calls with thousands in open interest on the October 31st, $5 strike.
Here’s what made it interesting: The smart money bought way above market ASK prices – paying $1.10 when the market was trading at $0.70-$0.75.
A beaten-down stock with massive call volume and institutional buyers paying above ask? The smart money was clearly positioning for something.
So after Eddie spotted the call flow, he alerted our Advanced Notice cohort about this huge move.
Then he watched as they SOLD the $4 puts under bid price. That’s conviction.
Institutional traders were clearly telegraphing exactly where they think the stock’s going.
As Eddie put it: “That’s conviction. When they bought Calls above market, @ 1.10 and the market was .70x .75… I got in with UOA exp. they know more than me!”
Eddie’s trade ticked all the Masters in Trading boxes…
Catching Unusual Options Activity (UOA) before the rest of the market catches up? Check.
Understanding what the options flow is telling you and getting in position? Check.
Acting on institutional signals with confidence and solid logic? Check.
These are the concepts I teach every single day. The unusual options activity tells you where the smart money is going before the move happens.
Back on the trading floor, this is how we made our living – spotting when institutional players were positioning and getting ahead of the retail crowd.
Now traders like Eddie, Brian, Mycha are doing the same thing.
They didn’t do anything crazy.
They didn’t roll the dice.
They followed a structured, repeatable approach based on real market relationships.
That’s the only way I know how to teach.
And just like I mentioned at the top, I want any one reading this to feel like empowered to trade the same insights I use every day.
It’s all in that special event I’m hosting on November 10th. I would love for anyone who’s interested to sign up right here and join me.
I plan to go even deeper with the insights I’ve given you here.
And I’m even sharing my new, big trade idea that you won’t want to miss. It’s based on the smart money’s playbook. And it represents one of the strongest investment ideas over the next decade.
So just click here to sign up and watch my special presentation.
Remember, the creative trader wins,
Jonathan Rose
Founder, Masters in Trading
