Right after my GCE 'A' levels I went to tekong island for my 4 months PTP cum BMT, that was in december 1995. It wasn't very helpful to my self esteem then that I actually failed my econmics and couldn't get into a local university. Back then we have only 2 universities, ie NUS and NTU. I actually repeated my first year in JC after spending too much time reading romance of the 3 three kingdoms in the library. I wasn't interested in studying at all.
After a boring 2 and a half years of suffering and boredom in the SAF, I finally got a go in the coporate world. That was in mid 1998 and the start of a major economic crisis in Singapore. Talking about bad luck!
I finally got my first job as a saleman in metro paragon after about 3 months of lazing around at home. I couldn't stand mom's nagging so might as well get a job. It was pretty fun there, I got to know a very pretty girl at my department and we do some occasional hugging and kissing when no one's looking in the store room. There was a very attractive auntie working at the lady's handbag department and she alwasys like to joke and share food with me. She is still working there but got promoted to department manager.
Apart from having fun, I aslo had a deep thought about what I should do with my life. Then came my destiny calling: I flipped open the recruit section of straits times one day there was many commdities bucket shops hiring sales admin. That was in late 1998 and many commodities bucket shop sprouted from nowhere hiring unsuspecting sucker traders/clients to trade with them.
So I quited my job and landed up as a sales broker in a commdities bucket shop dealing in US commodities like cotton, lumber, coffee and pork bellies. Lumber and bellies futures are still pretty liquid in the late 90s. Everyday, instead of cold calling for new sucker customers, I would study commodities price. I'll go to the office in the morning, flirt around with a sexy msian lady and a couple of young girls there. After they went home at 5 pm, I'll start studying the charts. They are using Bridge then which I think went into history already.
I'll go for my dinner at Lau Pat Sat at around 8pm and then come back for the US opening at 10.30pm. There will be a star msian bellies trader(who got stuck because he refused to cut lost), another rookie like me, one malay guy and one malay auntie(no idea why they are there) and the head indian chief conman in the office. If one of us want to trade, we will have to call up their bougus dealing room and ask for a 2 way quote which is very very wide. Internet trading back then is unheard of. Commission for me will be reduced bacause I'm their house broker and I actually got a 50-50 split in commission if I trade my customer's account, if I had any, that is.
I started off as a day trader, but gradually became a position trader as I got better. Then came the government crack down on commodities shop. In the middle of no where, say in the mid morning, plain clothes officers from CAD would stomp into the office and search our drawers. That was not very nice of course so I decide to go play at the government futures casino back then call simex or SGX-DT at OUB centre(just above watson's but now the whole buliding is demolished and rebulding).
Simex was fun of course but the the hongkee CEO decide to close it down in 2005. I left the place in 2004 because I smell it coming(CBOT and CME electronic volume surpassed open outcry in 2004) and started as a lone trader in my bedroom.
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