I’m really grateful for the path I took in getting where I am today.
I wasn’t always hanging out on an island trading and covering the stock market.
I put in my time.
I started my career in the Big 4, auditing some of the largest financial institutions in the world.
I spent long nights ticking and tying financial statements and testing derivative valuations for companies like Morgan Stanley and Interactive Brokers.
I know the strangest things about these companies' fundamentals and their history. I made friends and memories I’ll never forget. I was in the room for some historic market events. When I think back on some chapters of my early adult life, they were literally set in these offices.
But none of the non-public information I learned at these places back in the day is relevant or material now. I have an insider's understanding of these businesses, but no special information about them.
And I don’t need it. I’m a long-term bull on a lot of these companies simply because of the people who run them. Some have been great mentors over the years.
And there is no group that had a bigger impact on me than the folks I worked with over at Virtu Financial $VIRT.
These are literally the smartest guys in the room. In fact, some of them created the room. They are the top minds on Wall Street.
The company was founded by Vinny Viola and some other early executives with exchange experience. But not just any old exchange experience.
Vinny ran the NYSE before Virtu. Another one was the head of Nasdaq’s trading operations.
Who better to start a high-frequency trading operation than the guys with the best knowledge of how orders are routed and executed through exchanges?
I was the senior in charge of running Virtu’s going-public audit over ten years ago.
I fell in love with Virtu’s model. It was almost like they figured out a way to never lose in the market. This is a great article about how they do it.
With earnings coming up next week, VIRT is breaking out of a 7-year consolidation to new all-time highs.
I feel like I’ve been waiting for this breakout all my life. I’ve been involved in the stock forever but I just doubled my exposure.
The path of least resistance is now higher and we have a clean and clear level to be long against at the prior highs.
And remember what I said about the guys who run this company. The CEO bought stock on February 7th of last year. This was literally the day the stock bottomed. He paid $16.20. The low of the day, and the cycle, was $16.02. I’ve never seen an executive pick a bottom with such precision.
We’ll be talking about Virtu a lot more with Hot Corner in the future. We initially got long above 25 in Q2 of last year. Our first objective was hit, but we’re staying long now that this breakout is in the books.
One last thing to mention is that Virtu is also a bit of a Trump stock. The company founder was Trump’s original nominee for Secretary of the Army back in 2017.
He withdrew due to issues over divesting. He probably didn’t want to sell his VIRT stock. I don’t blame him.
But jokes aside, it never hurts to be friends with the President.
I owe a debt of gratitude to Virtu and their people for all I learned there and the track these experiences set me on for the future.
They will always have a special place in my heart. I just love seeing the stock at new all-time highs. It’s one of my favorite longs for 2025.
