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
Listen to John’s Daily Soy Complex Audio Commentary >>
Listen to John’s Daily Global Overview Audio Commentary >>
Steve Caldwell, Chief Financial 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
Listen to Steve’s Daily Currency Audio Commentary >>
Sean Lusk, Co-Director Walsh Commercial Hedging Services Division
Sean Lusk is a registered commodity broker and Co-Director of the 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 Precious Metals and 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
Listen to Sean’s Daily Grain Spreads Audio Commentary >>
Register for Sean’s Grain & Livestock Outlook Webinar on Thursday, February 14th at 3PM CST >>
View a Recording of Sean’s latest Grain & Livestock Outlook Webinar >>
John Weyer, Co-Director 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 Co-Director of the Commerical Hedging Divsion.
Contact John
Phone: 312-985-0934 or 888-391-7894
Email: jweyer@walshtrading.com
Listen to John’s Daily Corn and Wheat Audio Commentary >>
Steve Bruce, Commercial Grain Analyst
Steve Bruce comes from the cash grain side of the market working for General Mills at the Chicago Board of Trade in the summers in the 1970’s calling the country to buy wheat at cheap basis levels and with Illinois Grain learning the barge trade. He then spent the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s servicing commercial clients with Geldermann and Man Financial from the trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade shared market perception via print and electronic media.
Steve takes a fundamental approach to market analysis. He completed his undergrad at Marquette and MBA at De Paul. Steve believes in the free market, Chicago School of monetary policy, and less government involvement and intervention in the grain markets. He is risk adverse but emphasizes spread trades for optimal hedging profitability.
Contact Steve
Phone: 312-985-0156 or 888-391-7894
Email: sbruce@walshtrading.com
Listen to Steve’s Daily Agriculture Audio Commentary >
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, February 14th at 3PM CST >
View a Recording of Ben’s latest Weekly Grain & Livestock Outlook Webinar >
Scott Gecas, Chief Market Strategist
Scott Gecas, Chief Market Strategist, has over 20 years of experience in trading. Scott is a licensed trader and held a seat on the CBOE floor. Scott began his career spending his college summers on the trading floor as a runner and pursued the trading industry following graduation. His passion and knowledge in the financial markets have proven successful through his many years in the industry. Scott’s primary focus is the options and futures markets. Scott worked for several reputable trading firms such as LETCO Trading, TD Waterhouse, Greenmore Financial and Simplex Investments before joining Walsh Trading in 2019 to be part of the trading team. Scott’s market analysis can be seen regularly on RFD-TV, Bloomberg, SkyNews, Fox BusinesNews and MarketWatch.
Contact Scott
Phone: 312-957-4731 or 800-556-9411
Email: sgecas@walshtrading.com
View Scott’s Commentary on Market Day Report
Peter Ori, Options Specialist
Peter started in the futures industry in 1984 employed with Geldermann. From there he moved to Commerzbank and HSBC Securities. His duties included handling institutional and retail business in the futures and options pits at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange working in not only Chicago, but Singapore, and Hong Kong as well. Peter became a floor broker at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1998 until 2006. He then moved to TJM investments where he handled customer business online. Pete handled customer business from all over the globe in an array of markets and multiple exchanges. Keeping with his entrepreneurial spirit, he made the move to Walsh Trading in 2018 where he is rolling out his Ori Option Letter. He looks to aid farmers and ranchers with option techniques that protect future prices while offering short and long term opportunities that he sees in the market.
Contact Peter
Phone: 312-957-8103 or 888-391-7894
Email: peterori@walshtrading.com
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
