It was October 1987. I was a struggling, young trader in the 30 year bond pit at the Chicago Board of Trade. Yet it was on the Thursday before Black Monday that I smelled a rat. Japan was threatening to dump our bonds, yet certain people were buying our thirty year bonds hand over fist. I bought a bunch of puts on the S & P. Black Monday arrived, the DOW dropped 500 points and I cashed in the puts for $250,000. A trader was born.