Peter Najarian is an options

Option (finance)

In finance, an option is a derivative financial instrument that specifies a contract between two parties for a future transaction on an asset at a reference price. The buyer of the option gains the right, but not the obligation, to engage in that transaction, while the seller incurs the...

 trader

Trader (finance)

A trader is someone in finance who buys and sells financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, commodities and derivatives. A broker who simply fills buy or sell orders is not a trader, as they are merely executing instructions given to them. According to the Wall Street Journal in 2004, a managing...

, television personality, market analyst, and co-founder of optionMONSTER, a provider of market intelligence, commentary, and trading strategies. Along with his brother, Jon Najarian, he founded an online brokerage called tradeMONSTER in October 2008, during the worst financial turmoil in three-quarters of a century. tradeMONSTER sends trading information through the Web without requiring clients to download trading software. It is in direct competition with rivals such as OptionsXpress

OptionsXpress

optionsXpress Holdings, Inc. is a retail, online brokerage firm, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, that provides brokerage services for options, stocks, futures, mutual funds, and fixed-income investments in the United States and internationally...

 Holdings Inc. He is a contributor on CNBC's show Fast Money

Fast Money

Fast Money is the second studio album by American rapper Birdman, released on June 12, 2005.-Track listing:# "Intro"# "My Territory"# "Neck Of The Woods" # "Ghetto Life" # "Hug da Block"...

 alongside Jon Narjarian and Guy Adami

Guy Adami

Guy Adami is a TV personality, author, financial analyst, & a professional investor. He is one of the original "Fast Money Five" on the show Fast Money . In 2008 he joined optionMONSTER with Pete Najarian and Jon Najarian as the lead analyst for equities research. He also came on board as managing...

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Background

Najarian grew up in Minnesota, the son of famous transplant surgeon John Najarian

John Najarian

John S. Najarian is a noted transplant surgeon and is Clinical Professor of Transplant Surgery at the University of Minnesota. Najarian is the father of the former professional NFL football player Pete Najarian and options trader Jon Najarain.- External links :*...

. Najarian played college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 with the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

 Golden Gophers

Minnesota Golden Gophers

The Minnesota Golden Gophers are the college sports team for the University of Minnesota. The university fields both men's and women's teams in basketball, cross country, gymnastics, golf, ice hockey, swimming, tennis, and track and field. Men's-specific sports include baseball, football, and...

 as a linebacker

Linebacker

A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

. He was named to the All-Big Ten second team for three years, from 1983 to 1985, and was awarded the school's Carl Eller award for outstanding defensive player for three consecutive years, from 1983 to 1985. He also served as the team's captain in 1985. After earning a degree from the University of Minnesota, he became a professional football player with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...

 and Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...

.

He became an options trader in 1992 with the encouragement of his brother Jon Najarian, who worked for Mercury Trading at the Chicago Board Options Exchange

Chicago Board Options Exchange

The Chicago Board Options Exchange , located at 400 South LaSalle Street in Chicago, is the largest U.S. options exchange with annual trading volume that hovered around one billion contracts at the end of 2007...

. Peter Najarian rose to become president of Mercury, a position he held from 2000 to 2004, and oversaw the company's sale to Citadel LLC.

He currently appears on the CNBC

CNBC

CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...

 financial investing show Fast Money.

Recent developments

Najarian will be in Chicago June 25 & 26 2010 to co-host with Guy Adami

Guy Adami

Guy Adami is a TV personality, author, financial analyst, & a professional investor. He is one of the original "Fast Money Five" on the show Fast Money . In 2008 he joined optionMONSTER with Pete Najarian and Jon Najarian as the lead analyst for equities research. He also came on board as managing...

& brother Jon Najarian the Invest Like a Monster conference aimed at basic options education.