Kofi Amoabin, Director of African Business
Kofi Amoabin graduated from the College of Engineering at Brown University in 1983 and worked as an engineer at Xerox, Polaroid, and AT&T Bell Laboratories. Additionally, Kofi holds a MS in Finance from Lewis University and a MA in Communications from DePaul University. Kofi’s solid mathematical background attracted him to market analysis and trading, especially for commodities exported from or imported into Africa, such as cocoa, coffee, sugar, cotton, and crude oil. In 1991, Kofi obtained his license as a futures broker.
Kofi has a deep knowledge of sub-Saharan Africa and its reliance on revenue from cash crops; he uses this knowledge to manage risk in futures for entities in Africa that want to trade on the worldwide commodities and futures markets.
Kofi’s primary responsibility at Walsh Trading is hedging or managing risk for commercial traders and subvented government agencies that trade cocoa, coffee, sugar, cotton, crude oil and export and import commodities. In addition to his work at Walsh Trading, Kofi has taught public courses on trading futures, options, and risk management for individuals and companies, consults in business development for US-based companies considering Africa markets, and recruits African students for Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture. Kofi also serves as the Executive Director of US-Africa Trade Research Institute, a not-for-profit entity promoting trade between the US and Africa. In this role, Kofi has brought Ministers of Agriculture and other high-level government officials from Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda to the United States to initiate multi-million trade deals.
Contact Kofi:
Phone: 312- 985.0308 or 630.923.1567
Email: kamoabin@walshtrading.com
Ben DiCostanzo, Senior Technical Analyst
Ben is a graduate of Pace University with a degree in Accounting. In 1984, he became a member of The Index and Options Markets of the CME. He is Series 3 Licensed. Ben has been involved in many areas of the Securities industry, from working as a runner on the NYSE to taking care of professional traders and institutional clients for Salomon Brothers on the CME. He traded equities as a local before moving on and working with individual clients.
Ben understands that every client’s need are different and he prides himself in tailoring his service to each client’s unique circumstances and needs. Individual client experience, risk tolerance, and capital all play a role in how he approaches the markets. He is very involved in all markets using technical analysis to find opportunities. Ben’s approach is driven by principles of capital preservation. His trading philosophy is that if you can recognize and manage risk, you have a better chance to be successful in trading. Ben advises all his clients to always use stops as money management – in his opinion, it is the most important ingredient in trading commodities.
Contact Ben
Phone: 312-957-4163 or 800-556-9411
Email: bdicostanzo@walshtrading.com
Listen to Ben’s Daily Livestock Audio Commentary >
Register for Ben’s Grain & Livestock Outlook Webinar on Thursday, May 3rd at 3PM CST >
View a recording of Ben’s latest Grain & Livestock Outlook Webinar >
John Lunney, Senior Analyst
John Lunney began his trading career in 1989 as a clerk for IFO, the largest futures and futures options brokerage on the CME floor. Within one year, John was promoted to an executing floor broker responsible for handling large individual and institutional accounts. John’s knowledge of option theory and tactics quickly attracted a growing customer base. In 2000, John began exclusively trading futures and futures options for his own account. John later became a founding member of VI Capital, a proprietary trading company funded with personal and investor funds. At VI Capital, John was the director of risk management, technical analysis and strategy development. VI Capital realized multi digit returns over the course of 8 years of trading.
John has extensive trading experience in stock indexes, metals, commodities, energy and agriculture products. He believes that hard work reveals the best trading opportunities, and strong discipline creates consistent results. John possesses a unique ability to connect with customers, understand their goals, and work with them to create long and profitable relationships.
Contact John
Phone: 312-957-8108 or 888-391-7894
Email: jlunney@walshtrading.com
Listen to John’s Daily Technical Audio Commentary >>
On Wednesday, May 2nd at 3PM CST, John will hold a FREE The Wave Principle – an Introduction to Elliott Wave Theory webinar. John will look at applying Wave analysis to the agricultural markets. REGISTER NOW. If you missed his last Elliott Wave webinar you may VIEW A RECORDING.
Alan R. Palmer, Sr., Senior Technical Analyst
Alan R. Palmer, Sr., is a successful independent trader and technical analyst specializing in agricultural, financial and stock index futures. He has worked primarily in the markets traded on the CME Group.
Alan started trading at the Chicago Board of Trade in 1986 in the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond pit as a local. In 1987, he bought his full membership the day of the historic crash and moved back to his passion, trading soybeans, and grains along with bonds and stocks. Moving from pit to pit as market indicators dictated, Alan used his charting calculations to spot pivotal points as markets crossed ‘key levels.’ This acumen is Alan’s specialty and now he delivers this knowledge and experience to his customer base. He offers a macro thought process to viewing markets and players as they act with predictive behavior acumen.
He began his career in the futures industry as a summer runner while thirteen on the floor of the CBOT in 1973 delivering orders and learning the rudimentary workings of the markets. He graduated from runner to phone clerk, delivery clerk during the Hunt silver squeeze, working for various brokerage firms. After earning a Bachelor’s degree from DePaul University while working full time, he began a career as a proprietary trader with Paul Tudor Jones, a world-renown money manager, where he perfected his technical analytical techniques.
Alan has appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Bloomberg and Reuters newswires. He was the founder of Nasdog.com, an independent research and charting web enterprise, based on time-tested, support and resistance calculations for predicting multi-market swings. Alan holds an undergraduate degree in Business Finance Administration from DePaul University in Chicago.
Contact Alan:
Phone: 312.957.8248 or 888.391.7894
Email: arp@walshtrading.com
Listen to Alan’s Daily Morning Commentary >
Listen to Alan’s Daily Afternoon Commentary >
On Wednesday, January 24th, Alan held an Insight Into the “Olive Line” Using Professional Support and Resistance Level webinar. Alan discussed his “Olive Line” technical analysis which he uses to spot pivotal points as markets cross ‘key levels.’ If you missed this webinar you may VIEW A RECORDING.
James Walters, Grain and Livestock Specialist
James Walters has been involved in the equity stocks and futures business for over 30 years. He graduated from DePaul University with a Bachelor of Science degree in commerce majoring in economics and finance. Jim also served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and was trained as a cryptographer – a top secret code specialist. Jim entered the commodity futures industry in 1973 as an associated person handling customer accounts. He spent a great deal of time working with farmers and livestock feedlots, traveling to Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. As a sales manager for a large commodity firm, Jim supervised 22 brokers and spent time researching various markets. He became a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and learned the art of trading cattle, hogs, and currency futures. Jim was also a member of the Mid America Exchange where he traded all of the grain markets.
Throughout his career Jim has been with various investment companies which has provided him the opportunity to see many different types of trading programs and techniques. Jim has developed a day trading method that has been a successful model for him for many years.
Contact Jim
Phone: 312.948.9456 or 888.391.7894
Email: jwalters@walshtrading.com
Steve Caldwell, Chief Financial Officer 
John Weyer, Co-Director Walsh Commercial Hedging Services Division
