The StockTwits® Edge: 40 Actionable Trade Set-Ups from Real Market Pros

CHAPTER 8

Fallen Angels

Michael Bigger, @biggercapital

Michael is one of the most experienced guys in the StockTwits community. He has seen it all—the booms and the busts—and has thrived by focusing on the opportunities. He has the rare ability not only to filter the noise but to exploit it to his advantage. He's super-talented.

Bear markets make people a lot of money; they just don't know it at the time.

—Shelby Davis

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

I am an investor and a trader who has been involved with trading technologies for more than 20 years. I received a BS in physics from the University of Québec in Montréal in 1986 and an MBA from York University in Toronto in 1991. In 1992, I joined Citibank as the head trader of U.S. single-stock derivatives, where I managed a $5 billion portfolio of equity derivatives. I traded mostly collars. We were dealing with sizable positions and in many cases we were essentially the market. When you manage big positions, the first thing you learn about is the importance of liquidity.

In 1998, I joined D.E. Shaw & Co., L.P. to trade the U.S. equity derivatives portfolio. This is the place I started to appreciate the power of technology. I realized that when you build a new platform, you should be incremental. Start slowly and evolve one step at a time.

In 2000, I entered into the listed equity options business by establishing KBC Financial Products as one of the three initial market makers of the International Securities Exchange. We built that ...