Former Hoboken resident Jon Horowitz might seem an unlikely candidate to be starring in a movie given his career in the financial system. But Horowitz will be doing just that when he appears on the big screen in The Pit, an independent documentary making its area debut Sunday at the Hoboken International Film Festival in Teaneck.

The Pit centers on a handful of gritty commodities traders working on the floor of the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) during the last days of open outcry trading, the longtime trading method used until the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) acquired NYBOT in 2007 and nearly all commodity trading was computerized.

Horowitz is one of the traders featured in the film. Bankrolled by two senior colleagues, he's the new kid on the block angling to make big bucks trading coffee futures.

Horowitz, a gregarious 36-year-old with deep blue eyes, is something of a Mile Square celebrity in his own right. He lived in Hoboken for roughly three years while working as a point clerk at NYBOT, before ascending to a trader position there. Due to the paltry salary Horowitz says he earned while clerking, working a second job was a necessity and he landed one at Willie McBrides, where he said he mostly bar-backed, but also bartended and even worked as a bouncer on occasion.

His colleagues at Willie McBrides quickly dubbed him "Newbie" and he said, "I became a legend at Willie's. I would walk down Washington Street and people would yell, 'Hey, Newbie!'"

Indeed, even though Horowitz moved out of Hoboken more than three years ago, the nickname persists. While he sat outside of Willie's recently, sipping a beer and reminiscing about the good times in Hoboken, several regulars walked by and greeted him with "Hey, how are ya, Newbie?" and, "Long time, Newbie!"

In its heyday, most traders on the NYBOT floor—known as "the pit" due to its chaotic atmosphere—were  self-funded, buying and selling commodities using their own money. However, two traders who were impressed by Horowitz's work as a clerk and thought he'd make a promising trader each gave Horowitz $25,000 to get him started trading coffee futures.

Around that time, he met filmmaker Johanna Lee, who had recently begun working in the pit as a point clerk. As a Korean-American woman, Lee was an unusual figure in the pit, a workplace that was historically dominated by white, alpha-males or was, as Horowitz puts it, "the biggest frat house in the world."

Moreover, Lee is an "artsy type" said Horowitz, who was there to earn some money while between film directing gigs. Immersed in commodities trading madness, she found the subject for her next project.

Lee, who wanted to depict several traders at various career stages, asked Horowitz if he would let her profile his foray into trading in the movie. At first, Horowitz declined the offer, but later he agreed as Lee convinced him she needed a newbie trader.

"It was a sink or swim situation," said Horowitz recalling his early days as a trader. "I was up $11,000 in the first month."

Horowitz said successful traders are math whizzes and have spot-on instincts, and added that a having a gambler's mentality is essential. "I play blackjack, craps, poker," he said, noting similarities in the fundamentals of poker and commodities trading.  

But as the cameras rolled, things soon began to fall apart for Horowitz. He hit a losing streak and Lee, who followed the traders in their personal lives outside of NYBOT, brought cameras to Willie McBrides one evening to document Horowitz still having to toil as a bar-back, a sobering illustration of just how difficult the life can be for traders.

The film doesn't have a Hollywood ending for Horowitz. As his story unfolds, Horowitz loses almost the entire $50,000 stake he was given and is forced to move back in with his parents in their Connecticut home, something he said was a disappointment compounded by the fact that that aspect of the experience was being immortalized on film.

Before having screened a rough cut of the film, Horowitz said he was worried about his parents seeing the film because of the candor with which he discussed partying and the lifestyle of a trader. (Most of that material didn't make the final cut of the film)

These days, Horowitz is working in the accounting department of an energy company in Stamford, CT, "a smaller version of Enron," he described it. Horowitz said he hopes to get back into trading someday and looks back with fond memories at the adrenaline rush of the pit and his experience working on the film.

"Even if someday I get trading again and make $5 million a year," he said wistfully, "I'll still consider being in the pit the best work experience of my life."

"The Pit" will be screened at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Cedar Lane Cinemas in Teaneck. View the film's trailer in the accompanying video.