Chicago: The Derivatives Capital of the World. A Brief Tour.

WELCOME TO CHICAGO
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Taken yesterday aboard my buddy Captain Ron’s boat

Chicago, IL. The City of Broad Shoulders. The Windy City. The Capital City of the Midwest. Whatever you call it, there are thousands of Traders and hundreds of financial firms here who call it Home.
With a few hours to kill in between meetings yesterday, I brought my camera along and decided to play tourist in my own city. What follows is a very brief visual diary of some of the buildings and businesses that loom large in the finance world.

Of course, it starts with the famous Chicago Board of Trade building, now home of the combined CME Group. Built in 1930, it was once the tallest building in Chicago (until 1965). In fact, when built, the statue atop the building (Ceres, the Goddess of Agriculture) has no face because the architects naively thought there would never be a building nearby tall enough that people would actually notice.
This was not the first home of the CBOT, but it has certainly been its longest standing and most important.
Fun Fact: The bar inside the building at street level (cleverly named “Ceres”) is rumored to have at one time served more liquor annually than any bar in America. Having spent some time in there myself, I believe the rumor. Interesting side note, the main bar area has tables positioned to mimic the shape of a typical trading pit on the floor.
I once had an office on the 28th floor looking straight down LaSalle street (as seen above). It was a great view of the Loop. And I had a birds-eye view of the Chicago White Sox ticker-tape parade after winning the 2005 World Series. However, as a Cubs fan, I viewed the parade as a bit of an inconvenience ;)
Nearby, you can see what used to be the home of Continental Illinois Bank. This company practically invented today’s modern banking crisis.
One of the charter members of the “Too Big to Fail” club, in 1984, Continental Illinois became the largest ever bank failure and bailout in U.S. history, forcing a seizure by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. They held this proud distinction until only recently when Washington Mutual stole the bragging rights to world’s largest asshat.
Literally across the street and facing one of it’s finest moments, is the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago – or more commonly known these days as President Obama’s Personal Printing Press and Piggy Bank.
This building, similarly adorned to the Continental Building, was completed in 1922.
Next up, The Rookery Building. This gorgeous building located near the CBOT was built in 1888 and features a lobby designed by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
In 1988, flush with trading profits via his enviable perch above the T-Bonds pit at the Chicago Board of Trade, Super Trader Tom Baldwin purchased the building and executed a restoration project restoring the building to its near pristine original appearance.
Literally and figuratively in the shadows of the Chicago Board of Trade Building (CME Group) is the Chicago Board Options Exchange, where options were first traded on an exchange.
Seen in the foreground in this picture, the CBOE building was completed in 1984 and options trading moved from the Smoker’s Lounge in the CBOT building into its new home.
Once the scene of frantic floor trading activity, the trading floor here these days is rather quiet. The only pits where you’ll see any real activity is in the SPX options and VIX pits. Otherwise, the rest of the floor is more like a library with hundreds of unused video monitors – great for catching up on your reading, or grabbing a quick nap.
Here is the famous Horse on the plaza outside the CBOE building.
When “disagreements” couldn’t be settled on the floor in a civilized fashion, it was not uncommon to hear a trader yell “I’ll meet you by the horse after the close.”
Much like the flag-pole after school, you can imagine what took place next…
Here you’ll find the Chicago Stock Exchange building. Frankly, I have no idea what goes on here. Seriously. I hope somebody can fill us in in the comments section. Thanks!
Walking a few blocks away, we find what until recently served as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (until the recent merger with the CBOT). The windows you see on the second and third levels were once the two trading floors that existed here. The windows weren’t added until the exchange floors closed.
While many financial and trading firms still maintain offices here, there is no longer any floor trading. It has all moved to the CBOT building.
And previous to the above building, on the other side of the Chicago River, this X-braced building housed the CME from 1972-1983. It is now a Gym.
Just down the river a bit, you’ll find this building. Near the top is the nest for a famous monster – The optionMonster. Here from their perch, they scan the scene for profitable trade ideas ;)
In this shiny new building, you’ll find the center of world domination that is Citadel. Kenny Boy Griffin and his team of eggheads have graduated from their dorms and plot their latest and greatest quant-driven, high-frequency, algorithmic plundering of the electronic markets. They laugh upon us mere mortals from high above street level. Nice digs.
And finally, my favorite picture of them all, as this bridge is the site of one of my favorite recent stories in Chicago Trading lore.
It is from this very bridge that one Eli Radke (@eradke) was baited into jumping into the Chicago River, in exchange for his first trading stake. And the rest, as they say, is history. You can read a little about it here. Perhaps we’ll be able to get him to talk a little bit more about it.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the fruits from my little “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” tour around the city. It was brief. There is plenty more to see in Chicago, as any tourist or resident will tell you. If you’re ever visiting, hit me up, I’m available for guided tours ;)
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The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.

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