Bolling: The Gold and Platinum Connection

I started trading commodities in 1987. I became a member of the New York Mercantile Exchange that year and focused most of my attention on crude oil. Since I spent the day in the crude oil pit, I tended to trade mostly crude and the energy-related commodities. During the trading day the audible volume varied but for the most part it was almost impossible to hear anything outside the pit.

On occasion, you would hear a swell of volume slowly build to a roar coming from another pit. Many times, it was the result of a refinery fire and the subsequent gasoline pit explosion (pun intended). Or if the daily weather report showed a dramatic surprise change in the 6-10, you might hear the distillate pit volume pick up.

Back then, the Commodity Exchange was an independent exchange trading primarily metals located in the northwest quadrant of the massive 4 World Trade Center trading facility. Nymex occupied the southwest, the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange was in the southeast, and the Cotton Exchange was in the remaining northeast quad. ...