Rob Smith is a Chicago based veteran of the financial markets. He began by working his high school and college summers on both the Chicago Board Options and Chicago Stock Exchanges, and by 1989 became full time. During his 16 year stint as a member of the Chicago Stock Exchange, Rob worked as an independent trader as well as both an OTC and listed specialist.He was a regular contributor to CBS affiliate WBBM radio's noon business hour and evening drive programs as well as itsaboutfinance.com.

During those years he also served as a technical adviser to several firms using his bottom up approach to technical analysis. This "Bottom Up" approach, combines the use of several well known and proprietary indicators used to review a universe of well over 700 stocks a day. While others may use software to search for certain conditions, Rob's belief that exposure to the charts is far more beneficial. He routinely reviews his universe of stocks individually each night, on the belief that this exposure enables him to achieve the absolute best overall understanding of present market conditions.

In 2008, Rob recognized the severity of the bear market to come. He began to call and email anyone that would listen that this was not going to be "Your father's bear market." By October, he took it upon himself to do it full time and the "In The Black" newsletter was born. From the grass roots beginning of emailing everyone in his address book and spending well over 12 hours a day fielding questions, "In The Black" has now become a staple in the arsenal of hundreds of traders daily. Although geared towards the active trader, the original mission of helping people understand the risks of their investments, how to minimize those risks through the use of options and other strategies, and to educate through the use of daily examples, still exists in the newsletter Today. Rob takes great pride in being extremely accessible for any and all questions that you may have.