His story
Told from Danny’s own articles and interviews and from MrTopStep’s pages.
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Late 1970s
From Crystal Lake to the Board of Trade
Danny grew up in Crystal Lake, Illinois, one of ten children, and did not go to college. He calls the street and the trading floor his education. He started as a runner in the grain room of the Chicago Board of Trade, carrying orders between the pits, and learned to work the phones and the hand signals.
The floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, 1973 Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture, courtesy of the National Archives, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons -
Early 1980s
The bond room
He moved to the bond room of the Board of Trade, where he worked for traders who were profiled in the book Market Wizards, and for Rick Barnes.
The financial floor of the Board of Trade, 1992 Photo: Lars Plougmann, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons -
1985
The S&P desk at the CME
Rick Barnes sent him to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to run his S&P operation; Danny’s bios date the move to the S&P to 1985. He helped build one of the largest S&P futures order desks on the floor, and it won its customers by fighting for their fills. For nearly ten years the desk handled all of UBS’s program trading.
Senator Thad Cochran visits the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, 1984 Photo: U.S. Congress, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons -
Late 1980s
Marty “The Pit Bull” Schwartz
One of the desk’s customers was Marty Schwartz. In 2013 Danny wrote that their dealings had begun on the phone nearly 25 years earlier. He has also written that the desk protected Marty’s orders in the pit.
A pit at the Chicago Board of Trade, 2006 Photo: Richie Diesterheft, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons -
2009
MrTopStep
While still on the floor he started MrTopStep, to teach professional and retail traders the rules and methods of the floor. MrTopStep gives January 2009 as its launch, and Danny has been its CEO from the start. From the floor he sent short MrTopStep updates on video.
Danny on the floor in his MrTopStep jacket, from one of his video updates Picture: MrTopStep -
2013
Amherst with Marty
Marty invited Danny to his talk at Amherst College. MrTopStep posted the talk on YouTube.
Johnson Chapel at Amherst College, photographed in 2019 Photo: Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons -
December 2014
Off the floor
As trading went electronic, his desk had moved from S&P futures to S&P options, where hand signals still counted, and filled futures orders on Globex terminals at the desk. In December 2014 he left the floor.
Desks and screens on a trading floor in the Board of Trade building, 2024 Photo: Fixedsun, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons -
2015
Unplugged
Marty joined MrTopStep’s Unplugged webinar. Danny wrote that 1,600 people signed up and 750 attended.
MrTopStep, the company that ran the Unplugged webinar Logo: MrTopStep -
2021
The Opening Print
His note before the open moved to Substack. MrTopStep says he has written the Opening Print for more than twenty years: his outlook on the market, his plan for the trading day and a recap of the prior session.
The Opening Print, his newsletter on Substack Logo: MrTopStep, as on mrtopstep.substack.com -
Today
MrTopStep and PitBullTraders
As CEO he leads MrTopStep from Chicago. He is also a partner and key figure at PitBullTraders. PitBullTraders launched in 2025; it is a futures prop firm and trader community powered by MrTopStep.
Danny at his desk today Photo: Danny Riley
