Q & A

What does the Trainee Trader course involve?

Positive’s Trainee Trader Program has evolved over 20 years ever since our founding partner Jason Berry began hiring trainees in Dublin. Over time electronic trading has changed and our Trainee Trader Program has had to change with it. At its core are our philosophies on trading, risk and life. The cornerstones of our success are hard work, rock solid discipline and innovating together.

We teach you the fundamentals and technicals of the electronic financial markets. We teach you risk management. We teach you what we know about finding new markets and strategies and how to exploit them. We teach you Excel. We teach you programming. How far you take this learning is up to you.

Your trading performance is reviewed daily with your trainer using our in-house analysis software. You also work with other senior traders, whether on research projects or observing their trading and what makes them successful. There is a lot to learn and the learning never ends. Your motivation, your passion and your hard work are essential parts of training.

 

How long does the training last?

The initial training period is not defined by time. Rather it is defined by when you can consistently hit the set Profit & Loss targets. Generally, this is somewhere between nine and fourteen months after you start with us. But this is a profession where personal development is never ending.

When you graduate to the live market, trading the firm’s capital, the learning does not end there. It takes many more months and years to become a true master of your craft. What we do know is that some of Positive’s most successful traders have only been trading for four or five years. There is a steep learning curve at the beginning but the journey to the top can be a relatively short one compared to other careers, and most importantly, there is no cap, no limit.

 

What are the working hours?

Once you move beyond the formal Trainee Trader Program and graduate to trading the firm’s capital on the live markets, you have flexibility to trade the markets that suit you most and choose your trading hours accordingly. During training, we recommend certain markets to trade, based on where we believe you will have the greatest chance of success in the early stages of your career. Generally, you will want to be trading your markets when they are at their most busiest. If your market opens early in the morning and closes late in the evening, you will want to be trading those sessions.

Nobody can concentrate to a high level for the whole day. We strongly encourage breaks during the day. Aside from trading, during the day trainees do research, read, go for a coffee break, go to the gym or go out for a run, or simply relax on the couches taking a brain break. In trading, there are periods of intensity and focus followed by large stretches of patience. It’s as important to be at the desk for the busy times as to take a break during the down time.

 

Is the internship at Positive Equity a paid role?

Our internships are six weeks in duration and on a volunteer basis. With our internships, the goal is three fold:

1) To give you a crash-course in market fundamentals and technicals, including trading with the same software our senior traders use, so you can answer the question “Is front office trading for me and would I enjoy it?“ Some of the key content from our formal full-time Trainee Trader Program is covered in your Intern Trading Guide.
2) To share your experiences with your classmates and other people who you think would enjoy a career in the markets with us.
3) For Positive Equity to answer the question “Do we think you would excel in trading?“

 

For an Internship role must I be in my final year or can anybody apply?

There is no benchmark for us with the Internship Program as far as your level at university goes. Our minimum requirement is that you are currently enrolled in a third level program, or that you have already completed a third level degree.

 

How many Trainees make it to Senior Trader status?

The rate of success depends on several variables – the main ones being 1) our dedication to teach you everything we know about successful trading and 2) your own hard work and dedication to succeed. In specific years, the success rate has been as low as 20% and as high as 80% after two years of training.

Make no mistake, training to become a consistently profitable professional trader is not easy. It takes a lot of time, effort, dedication and occasional setbacks. It’s a two-steps-forward, one-step-back process. We cannot guarantee you trading success. What we can promise is that if we hire you, we will do our utmost to ensure you succeed in trading, using every ounce of our experience in the global financial markets. We’ve been taking on trainees for nearly 20 years and every year we improve and update our training. The rewards of trading success with us are substantial: the autonomy to make your own trading decisions; the financial rewards deriving from our partnership with you up to an unlimited level; the knowledge that you are honing and mastering your craft surrounded by dozens of smart, competitive, high-achieving people.

 

How much does a Trainee Trader get paid at Positive Equity?

For some people, the money in training is not enough. Unfortunately, not everybody could financially survive in those tough initial training months. For others, the opportunity to crack the puzzle of the financial markets is secondary to the expectation of a well-paid, secure job after all your years of study and life experience. This has always been so in trading. With Positive, there are financial extremes on both sides of the trading career spectrum. During training, when inevitably trainees are losing money as they figure out the puzzle, pay is low. On the other end of the scale, most traders here earn six figure incomes and some seven figure annual incomes. If you think of your training period as a Masters in Risk and Financial Trading, you already have the mentality we see in successful traders.

 

I’m not sure if I can afford the Trainee Trader Role?

Trading is a tough career to crack. We believe our experience and track record makes us the best in the business at hiring and training trainees but sometimes it does not work out. Not everybody can crack the puzzle of the financial markets, hence the rewards for those that do are extreme. But even if you don’t make it, the education is a rough equivalent to a Masters in trading and risk management. Many of our former trainees secure jobs at banks, financial tech firms, major brokerages and other financial institutions.
What we can promise you is that when we hire you in our Trainee Trader Program, we do so with the full belief that you have the skills and temperament to become a successful trader and we will do our utmost to ensure you succeed. Trainees always know exactly how they are doing in training. There are specific targets that need to be hit – achievable targets that we know from experience are required for success. Trainees always know the targets and where they stand with us. Trading is a stressful enough job and we want everybody to know we are behind them and what we expect. You will always know where you stand with us in terms of your trading performance and our expectations of you.

 

What happens if I don’t make it as a Trader?

Trading is a tough career to crack. We believe our experience and track record makes us the best in the business at hiring and training trainees but sometimes it does not work out. Not everybody can crack the puzzle of the financial markets, hence the rewards for those that do are extreme. But even if you don’t make it, the education is a rough equivalent to a Masters in trading and risk management. Many of our former trainees secure jobs at banks, financial tech firms, major brokerages and other financial institutions.
What we can promise you is that when we hire you in our Trainee Trader Program, we do so with the full belief that you have the skills and temperament to become a successful trader and we will do our utmost to ensure you succeed. Trainees always know exactly how they are doing in training. There are specific targets that need to be hit – achievable targets that we know from experience are required for success. Trainees always know the targets and where they stand with us. Trading is a stressful enough job and we want everybody to know we are behind them and what we expect. You will always know where you stand with us in terms of your trading performance and our expectations of you.

 

Can I still train with my sports team and be a professional trader at the same time?

The short answer is YES! We hire based on several criteria, one key characteristic being competitive spirit. This is often displayed by candidates through dedication to a sport. We have had top athletes come through our doors: professional footballers, champion swimmers, professional rowers and of course amateurs who just love sport. We don’t expect you to give that all up to come work with us. After all, a focus outside of trading can be really helpful during times of tough trading.
However, some caveats. It is important to strike the right balance based on your performance and experience. Trading is a full-time activity. It is not a 9 – 5 type of job. Clocking in at 9 and out at 5 usually does not translate into trading success. At the start of your career the balance is more heavily weighted towards time in the office. As you progress that balance evens out. What we recommend is that you speak with your trainer about how best to structure your training around your working day. If you need an evening off once or twice a week to train, do it! But figure out your schedule and make sure you are catching up on your training. One thing we can promise you is that we will never work weekends. Our doors shut on Friday evening and stay shut until Monday morning.

 

How much can I earn as a trader?

Traders at Positive Equity receive a profit share bonus based on net trading profits. There is no salary and no cap on earnings. On average, a Trainee Trader can expect to earn very little in the first year, €30 – 50k in the second year and between €50 – 75k in the third year. Thereafter, the variance is huge. There are traders here who earn many multiples of these numbers every year. The average is several hundred thousand euro per year. There is no ambiguity nor subjectivity on profit share bonuses.

 

Are Positive ‘algo’ traders?

No. We use ‘grey box’ solutions for many of our trading strategies, where some level of automation is involved in trade execution, but human input is always required in all of our trading. We have a full-time programmer on the trading desk, and in the future we will gradually change but for now we know what works for us.

 

Are Positive high frequency traders?

No. Speed is an important part of our trading but being the fastest is not where our trading ‘edge’ or competitive advantage lies. We are more a trading firm than a technology firm.

 

Can I trade part time?

Bearing in mind how tough it is to succeed in trading, we do not believe that part-time effort will lead to a consistently profitable trading career. The markets are too competitive to allow this. Moreover, they are ever-changing and we are constantly working on figuring out new ‘edge’ or competitive advantage. A career in trading is as much a career as a life.

 

Can I switch between Positive’s Dublin and Split office?

For our Trainee Trader Program, you would be based either in Dublin or Split and this would not change during your training. You need to be settled, comfortable in your environment (from the colleagues who sit beside you to your life outside the office) and very focused. Changing location is generally something we do not recommend even for senior traders. When you have reached a level of expertise where we are confident you can maintain your trading success in a new place, this opportunity is then open to you. We have traders based in Madrid, Cork and New York as well as in our two main locations, Dublin and Split.

 

What is the typical day like for a trainee trader?

Check out our blog where you’ll find lots of reports from our Trainees listed under the ‘Trainee Trader Experiences’ HERE.