Kenyon: Drawn by the thrill factor. (Trader Profile).

Chip Kenyon didn't really choose the futures industry. It chose him.

The Chicago native graduated college with concentrations in economics and history and had trouble finding direction.

"I didn't have a job; I didn't know where to go. I interviewed at some banks and it didn't work out, thank goodness," says Kenyon, a trader in the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Treasury bond pit. So, naturally, Kenyon took some advice from his mom. She suggested he talk to her neighbor Bob Schreiber, a soybean meal trader. Schreiber brought Kenyon to the trading floor and showed him the ropes. Something in that introduction to trading stuck, and when Schreiber asked Kenyon what he wanted to do, Kenyon admitted he wanted to pursue trading but didn't have the capital needed to start.

"Well, I have a seat. I bought it as an investment, which you can use free of charge," Schreiber said to him.

When Kenyon asked why Schreiber was so willing to help, Schreiber said that was how he got started. "I'm just paying back the Board of Trade. We need some good guys down here," he said. Little did either know at that time that Kenyon would become the largest volume trader in the T-bond pit.

Kenyon started in bond options at the Chicago Board Options Exchange, next door to the CBOT. He eventually bought a full CBOT seat, giving him trading rights at both exchanges. After a year and a half trading strictly options, Kenyon decided to "bite the bullet and start over again," trading T-bond futures at the CBOT.

After 16 years at the CBOT, Kenyon is quick to identify what has kept the experience so satisfying.

"It's the thrill factor," he says. "I know what I am doing. I can calculate my performance, but it's still a mystery of how the day will be. And that's great because that brings me back. If it was easy and I would punch the clock and make my $10, well, ho-hum. But there's still an excitement here. I don't know what to expect and it keeps me hungry."

What also has kept that excitement alive has been his ability to let his work end when the market closes. His office in the CBOT building is filled with sports memorabilia and exercise equipment. From his hockey trophies to the signed Wayne Gretzky jersey, the weights to the photos of his five children (three of which are triplets), it's obvious that he balances his trading with family and health.