John Walsh, President, Walsh Trading, Inc.
John began his career in the futures industry in 1986 at privately held firm, Barnes and Company. Barnes and Company was known for its presence at the Board of Trade, particularly in the agricultural sector. From Barnes, John held positions at the privately held firm, Argus and then at Continental Grain. During his time there, Continental Grain was one of the largest clearing firms in the world. Continental Grain had, and continues to maintain, extensive holdings in the cash cattle, poultry, swine, and agriculture industries. At Continental Grain, John had various responsibilities including working for the Options Group and the Risk Management Group where he serviced clients located all over the world.
In 1996, John left Continental Grain to found Walsh Trading, Inc., currently a registered Guaranteed Introducing Broker (GIB) and an NFA member. John’s focus at Walsh Trading has been on hiring and cultivating talented individuals and building relationships throughout the industry. Walsh Trading services some of the largest companies in the world, in their respective fields, as well as individual investors with a commitment to always putting the needs of its customers first.
John trades all markets, but concentrates his efforts in the agricultural sector, more specifically in the relationships revolving around the soybean crush. His trading methodology is based on fundamentals and a personally designed technical system.
Contact John
Phone: 312-208-8837 or jwalsh@walshtrading.com
Steve Caldwell, Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer
Steve started in the commodity business in the back-office and then moved up to a management position in the mid-1980s. Wanting to move into the brokerage part of the business, he joined the Parrot organization to deal in the cash grain and futures trade in 1987. While dealing with cash grain hedging he traveled to Western Europe, Southern Africa and Asia. Thinking that the travel experience had run its course, Steve decided that he would stick with domestic traders in retail brokerage.
In general, Steve is a technical trader, but also believes that traders need to be aware of the various fundamental factors affecting markets to be successful on a long term basis.
Contact Steve:
Phone: 312.957.8083 or 800.587.6275
Email: scaldwell@walshtrading.com
Sean Lusk, Vice President Walsh Commercial Hedging Services Division
Sean Lusk is a registered commodity broker and Vice President, Commercial Hedging Division of Walsh Trading in Chicago. Sean began in the business as a runner on the trading floor during summer breaks from college in 1993. Upon his graduation from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1996, Sean began his career on the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Overseeing billions of dollars of transactions working as a clerk in the Eurodollar pit, Sean took the next step and became a floor broker and member of the CME in 2003. He handled customer orders for banks and investment houses from all over the world from inside the Libor pit at the CME.
Now, at Walsh Trading, Sean utilizes his experience in the marketplace and his professional client service skills to aid and assist customers in their trading endeavors.
Sean writes daily and weekly commentaries focusing on the Agricultural Markets along with related market activity. He has been quoted in various media outlets discussing futures markets. These include, Futures Magazine, Reuters, Forbes, Kitco, Nikkei Press and CCTV.com.
Contact Sean
Phone: 312-957-8103 or 888-391-7894
Email: slusk@walshtrading.com
Register for Sean Grain & Livestock Outlook Webinar on Thursday, June 1st at 3PM CST >>
View a Recording of Sean’s latest Grain & Livestock Outlook Webinar >>
John Weyer, Vice President Walsh Commercial Hedging Services Division
John Weyer started in 1992 as a runner for an independent brokerage group in the Eurodollar pit at the CME. As a clerk he helped handle thousands of contracts from institutional customers on a daily basis. John’s customer relationships and skill set helped enable him to become a CME member and execute customer orders as a floor broker. He later made the transition to a “local”, trading his own account in 3 Month Eurodollar futures.
John now uses the skills and experience acquired after 20 in the futures industry to help customers with their risk management at Walsh Trading as a Vice President of the Commercial Hedging Division.
Contact John
Phone: 312-985-0934 or 888-391-7894
Email: jweyer@walshtrading.com
Stephen Davis, Senior Market Strategist
Stephen E. Davis has more than 30 years experience in the futures industry, A Minnesota native and University of St. Thomas graduate, he began his career on the trading floors of the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange. There he acquired his knowledge of the futures and options business from the ground up, learning from many of the floor traders of all time. With our technology, today, we are much like floor traders of the past.
In 1996, Stephen became a Series 3 licensed broker. As a broker, he worked for two large futures commission merchant firms where he attended to a wide variety of accounts. His clients included corporate accounts, hedge funds, commodity trading advisors, farmers, ranchers and individuals.
Stephen enjoys developing business relationships with clients to help them learn and achieve their trading goals. He has worked with agricultural concerns—from small to large—to assist them with risk management in the futures markets. Stephen’s particular strengths are in agricultural and stock indices. His trading philosophy is 80 percent technical and 20 percent fundamental. Let Stephen’s experience help you achieve your trading goals.
Contact Stephen
Phone: 312-878-2391 or 800-556-9411
Email: sdavis@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
Register for Ben’s Grain & Livestock Outlook Webinar on Thursday, June 1st at 3PM CST >
View a Recording of Ben’s latest Weekly Grain & Livestock Outlook Webinar >
Mike Lisanti, Account Executive
Mike graduated from Loyola University in Chicago, earning both his BA and JD degrees. He successfully practiced law for 15 years as a Chicago native dealing with a variety of clients. Mike has taken his education and experience and has joined Walsh Trading to assist Ag based customers with their needs in the market. His focus is client centric, and he considers communication and the relationship primary to success. Mike will assist through an understanding of supply and demand fundamentals along with technical analysis. He looks forward to working with his customers in any of their market needs.
Contact Mike
Phone: 312-957-4731 or 888-391-7894
Email: mlisanti@walshtrading.com
Feng Ba, Director of Asia Pacific Agricultural and Investment Management