Jay Woods is the Most Popular Man on Wall Street.

Off The Charts

In the first episode of our new podcast interview series, Off the Charts, my co-host Steve Strazza and I interviewed one of our favorite people on Wall Street, Jay Woods. But he’s not just our favorites, he is a favorite of many. I would argue he’s the most popular man on Wall Street! One thing I’ve heard repeatedly over the years is some version of: “Have you gotten the Jay Woods tour of the New York Stock Exchange?” Gratefully, I can say I have. And the breadth and depth of Jay’s NYSE history is quite literally off the charts. Steve and I are both incredibly grateful to call Jay a friend. In this hour-long chat, Jay talks about the first chart he ever created (by hand). His uncle (famed market technician Ralph Acampora) purchased two shares of IBM for a young Jay as a gift and encouraged him to do so to track his first investment. We then fast-forward to his days as a Wall Street intern where his job description might best have been: ‘Lunch ticket order taker.’ The unspoken silver lining of that experience was the skills he learned in this process that translated into the ability to multi-task and eventually thrive in a fast-paced role as a Specialist making markets in several stocks at once. In his younger days, Jay considered himself to be a bit shy and reserved. But soon after becoming a full-fledged Specialist on the floor of the NYSE, Jay acquired a wonderful sense of humor and quick wit that has earned him the respect and admiration of nearly everyone he now meets. But it was not just an affable personality that Jay won on the floor, he also learned the hard way that having a short memory helped him stay sane and move on from tough lessons metered out by an often unforgiving market, angry stakeholders, and plans gone awry. And while Jay won’t admit to “seeing it all,” he’s seen a lot — from the dot-com bubble to literally being just 3 blocks from Ground Zero during 9/11, to the Great Financial Crisis, to navigating the ever-changing shifting corporate sands and trends that have completely changed the role Specialists now play on the Floor of the NYSE. Grab a snack, settle in, and enjoy this delightful conversation with the amazing Jay Woods!