I started working with Positive Equity back in September 2017. Personally I found that the first couple of weeks were probably the most difficult. It takes a while to get used to the new lifestyle and the long hours. For the first two weeks there is a lot of research and reports on different aspects of the market that have to be done before you can start on the sim. The research is interesting in so far as you are learning what moves the markets and learning about the specific products you will be trading but the days go much faster and are far more enjoyable once you start on the sim.

Sport & Trading

• During my 6 months on the job I’ve found there are a lot of similarities between my sporting life and trading. Trading is a very competitive industry, this really appeals to me. This job is much different to most jobs coming out of college in that your pay is totally dependent on your performance, how hard you work, etc.
• The job requires a lot of dedication and hard work, similar to playing sport at a competitive level. We are always encouraged to be innovating, looking at new products that we could possibly trade, watching back videos of our trading from key times, taking notes on patterns and events occurring in the market, etc. There is always more edge to be found or improved upon the harder you work.
• Sport tests your resilience to come back from losing big games, being injured/dropped, etc. Trading is similar in that there are a lot of ups and downs and it really does test your mental strength and resilience. There have been days/weeks where I have consistently lost money and struggled to find any winners. It can be very frustrating during these periods but it is important to keep coming in day after day and work even harder and trust that things will eventually come right if we keep grinding away and keep doing the right things.
• Teamwork is also very important as a trainee. There are 5 of us in my trainee class and we are always encouraged to innovate together, watch recordings of each other trade, help each other out, etc. This all helps to quicken up our learning process as we all see the markets a little differently and we all excel in trading different products. We are constantly told that the more of us that are successful from our trainee class the more successful we will be individually in our trading careers.
• We learn a lot from the more experienced traders at Positive. We work a lot with the Junior traders who have been here a couple more years than we have. We often watch them trade the key times of the day. It might be only something small you take from watching them each time but it has made a big difference to our trading. They are also very willing to share opportunities they are looking out for and we can also share a few of our own ideas with them.

Targets

• We have to reach certain targets before being allowed to trade on the live market. This month (March) is the first month we have been given targets to hit. Our target is to be up money for the month. Ultimately, the aim for all of us is to be hopefully trading on the live markets by the end of the summer. This seems a long way off at the moment, but hopefully with a lot more hard work and a little bit of luck we will get there.