Lewis Borsellino

Reading books about the stock exchange and watching films on this topic, you notice the unimaginable progress of the stock exchange as such. Previously, no one could imagine that years later it would be possible to conduct trade in a cozy office or home via a computer.

Previously, there were so-called “Pits”, where a large number of traders gathered and, in great noise and crowded conditions, carried out active trading, where in order to execute your deal you had to have not only a loud and strong voice, but also physical abilities to push through this crowd and reach their set goals. 

Not everyone liked this kind of fuss, so, as a rule, no one could stay in “Yama” for more than two years.

Lewis Borsellino managed to last 18 years in the so-called “Pit” of the Chicago Stock Exchange, and his success as a trader is simply phenomenal.

According to CNBC, he was recognized as one of the best traders in the world. Trader's success story.

Lewis Borsellino was born in 1957 in the world-famous city of Chicago, USA. If we look at his pedigree, it turns out that his roots are from sunny Sicily, since both his grandfather and father were Italians. By the way, if you look into the history of Chicago during these years, you could find out that at this time the criminal world flourished more than ever, so it was extremely difficult to survive and achieve any success.

If we talk about parents, then probably the biggest lesson in life was taught to him by his own father. He worked as a truck driver and in order to survive, he had to steal a little from his employers. Because of his Sicilian roots, he had connections with the mafia, for which he actually paid.

When Lewis and his brother were young, their father was imprisoned for mob connections and stealing a cargo of silver worth one million dollars. At this moment, Lewis learned a very important lesson for himself: power is in the hands of those who have money.  

Also in his book, Lewis Borsellino says that his father taught him to take a punch and stand firmly on his feet in any situation, and a pistol with a note from his father asking him to start earning money for his family and taking care of his mother completely turned the boys’ world upside down.

However, Lewis Borsellino did not follow in his father's footsteps, but as a law-abiding citizen graduated from college and first encountered the world of the stock market. When he was 22 years old, he first entered the floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange and worked as an ordinary messenger.

Initially, he was a kind of communicator between clients and traders, conveying the wishes and requests of clients, but after some time he himself begins to receive individual requests. In 1982, he decides to become an independent player and buys a broker's license for $3,000.

Independent traders, especially those who could execute clearly market orders, were very popular with large companies. So, from 1986 to 1990, he carried out orders from such large financial giants as Merrill Lynch, Prudential, Salomon Brothers and others.

World fame

When Lewis Borsellino turned 30 years old, his luck really turned around. So in 1987, in just a couple of transactions lasting less than five minutes, he managed to earn 1 million 300 thousand dollars. In his books, he describes this moment very vividly and says that he even felt sick at the thought of how much he managed to earn.  

However, behind the euphoria came the insight that at that moment he could have lost everything if he had made purchases instead of sales. In his books, you can repeatedly come across the expression: “Trading takes you to the greatest heights and lowers you to the very bottom like no other profession.”  

Lewis Borsellino preferred to work with futures , but he is one of the first traders who very quickly began to master the S&P index and sell various information products on it.

In 1998, luck turned around for Lewis for the second time. It was this year that the crisis began in Russia, which was preceded by the devaluation of the ruble and many other economic factors. Of course, the crisis of such a large country simply could not help but affect other states and exchanges.

It was precisely this moment that Lewis caught, predicting the fall of the S&P index, took short positions and managed to earn more than $2 million. 

Having received a sufficient amount of money, Lewis Borsellino moves away from active trading and begins speaking on various financial television channels, programs, as well as teaching at prestigious universities around the world. Lewis also tried his hand at business, selling real estate and opening restaurants and car washes.

However, this experience was extremely unsuccessful, so in his books he confidently says that you need to do what you do best, and in the case of Lewis Borsellino it was trading.