A Trader's Journey: The Sandman

Benzinga's "A Trader's Journey" features a trade who shares their life experiences and how it molded their career. This show airs weekly on Sundays at 11 a.m. ET on the Benzinga YouTube page. Big wins? Big loses? Trading lessons? Advice? Find out "How Sandman Once Net A Cool $1 Million" in the video below.

Sandman has been trading since he was 16 years old. He recognized his passion early in life and worked at it tirelessly for decades He started full-time trading at 29. A classic and ancient history double major in college, from a blue-collar family that worked multiple jobs to send the kids to college, he learned discipline from his collegiate pursuit that gave him the tools he needed to be a trader.

This former Standard & Poor’s employee’s journey is ongoing. He went to the Merrill Lynch office in Stamford Connecticut and spent summers there reading the tape off a ticker tape machine and learning from traders that traded through the Great Depression. He saw first hand during the recession of 1973 and 1974 how ugly markets can be. Some stocks lost 80% or 90% of their value.

But this gave way to a gigantic boom that would last for years.

Artificial blood was the holy grail. There was a constant quest for this blood, and Alliance Pharmaceuticals was in pursuit. Sandman bought 1000+ call options. "Wall Street Week," which everyone watched, highlighted Alliance as "the one stock to be put away in a box until next year.”

Monday morning comes, and the stock is exploding higher. No premarket, but indicated higher. When the market opened, he was on the phone trying to sell the different lots of calls until he cleared upwards of $1 million. The company didn’t amount to anything, but that didn’t stop Sandman from hitting a gigantic home run.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself on day one? "Patience. Be more patient. Simple and effective. This also becomes a life lesson that leads to respect."

You can find Sandman on Twitter @sandman7591, as well as leading the day trading room on Benzinga Pro. He continues to trade every day, and when he's not trading he's helping educate other traders. His success is contagious, and his ability to act as a mentor to many is on display during every market session. Passions last a lifetime, and Sandman is a prime example of that.