Amplify Traders: Our most valuable assets are our traders
Key Personnel:
Piers Curran
Piers is the Head Trader at Amplify Trading. As well as being the founder of the firm, Piers also mentors our trainee traders. Piers was previously at Goldenberg Hehmyer for 6 years as a Trader where he gained recognition as one of the biggest intra-day traders in the futures market. Piers traded Fixed Income Spreads, Currency, Commodity and Stock Index Futures, with specialist focus on Schatz. He began his career at HSBC as an Analyst, Global Markets Investment Strategy having graduated from Imperial College London with a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering. Piers now lectures at BPP Business school.
Piers has in-depth knowledge and experience in technical and fundamental analysis which is shared with our traders in the trading room every day. He is a regular guest on financial programmes and quoted in the financial press, his most recent views can be seen here. As a leading trader in The City Piers is frequently asked on his views on current and projected financial market conditions.
Will de Lucy
Will de Lucy is Trader, Mentor and Co-founder at Amplify Trading. Previously Will was at Goldenberg Hehmyer as a trader for 6 years successfully trading Fixed Income Spreads, Currency, Commodities and Stock Index Futures. Will now specialises in trading the E-mini S&P and has the responsibility of working with each trader directly to improve and maintain individual performance. With an MSc in Carbon Trading Will also actively advises on developments in this field. Will also lectures at BPP Business school on their flagship programme of trading and technical analysis.
Andrea Lazzari
Andrea is our leading market analyst who trades for Amplify according to his daily strategy which can be seen here. Previously he was at Credit Suisse in the Exotic Derivatives Emerging Markets team where he was responsible for analysis of derivative portfolios across Structured Derivatives, Exotic Options, Futures, Swaps, Bonds, FXs and Commodities. Before that he was a Senior Hedge Fund Accountant at Northern Trust Bank. Andrea holds a First Class Honours degree in Business Administration from Bocconi University and a Diploma in Stockbroking Investment from Dublin Business School. He is bilingual in English and Italian and also speaks Spanish and French.
Amplify Traders:
Trader of the month
Mohsen Khalkhali
Profile: Proprietary Futures Trader, Amplify Trading.
Joined the firm having successfully completed the four month training period.
Location: Amplify Offices, Canary W harf, London.
I joined Amplify in April 2009 and I have been really impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of the company. Now with the advice and support of Piers, coupled with my own research I am implementing my quantitative approach to trading. In November last year I started researching on these topics and tried different strategies. I have written seven different profitable strategies using technical and quantitative analysis and at the moment I am trying to automate the most successful one which has delivered an ROC of more than 650% per month with a winning probability of greater than 70% in the back-testing.
Nearly a year after I started, I am still with Amplify Trading and looking back, I have no doubt that I made the right decision. During the first four months of the training, I learnt everything there was about technical analysis in the real-world meaning that the course taught us as much about psychology of trading and psychology of success as market analysis.
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Mary Hernandez
Profile: Currently an Analyst at an investment consultancy, London. Previously was a Trainee at Amplify Trading having successfully completed the trainee trader programme.
University: Birkbeck College University of London, MSc. Financial Engineering, Pontifical Xavierian University - BSc. Industrial Engineering
Why did you chose do pursue a trading career?
I've always been attracted to study subjects that turn out to be fairly male dominated; I studied Engineering and I was always interested in trading so chose this as my future career path.
Why did you choose to undertake the program at Amplify Trading?
I think what most attracted me about Amplify Trading was the fact it was created in the middle of the credit crunch and the entrepreneurial spirit of its founders.
What does a typical day as a trainee trader involve?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a remote based trader?
How much prior knowledge did you have?
What are the most challenging aspects of the programme?
What distinguishes the trading program at Amplify from graduate role at an investment bank?
1.Do what you love to do. People tend to postpone their dreams, and they never do anything to make them happen. 2. Don't work for money, it is a consequence of 1. |
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Langyu Gu
Profile: Currently Research Analyst, Guoyan Securities, Hong Kong. Previously successfully completed the Amplify Trading trainee trader programme.
University: Imperial College, MSc Finance and BSc Mathematics degrees. I joined Amplify Trading as a proprietary futures trainee trader in September 2009 after graduation. I trade the S&P500 which is the most accurate barometer of the US economy.
10:30 am: I start the day by reading emails of economic reports and articles from the firm's analyst.
12:00 PM: I go through previous day's activity on the Asian market in order to spot any significant news from China, Japan and Hong Kong, which might affect the US market.
12:30 PM: Morning call with the Head of Trading: we are prepped for any significant market news to be aware of during the day and told about important economic data release announcements. I set up several technical tools such as resistance/supporting levels, trendlines and Fibonacci retracements.
1:00 PM: I set up the trading platform, virtual trading floor (where the traders share information and comment on the market) and turn on CNBC news. Meanwhile, I prepare for the economic data releases and memorise them so I can quickly spot the difference when the data comes out.
1:30 PM: Trade on economic data. I start recording my trades in order to use as a reference when reviewing my day's progress with my mentor.
2:30 PM: U.S market opens. I start trading the morning session and keep my eye on dollar and oil, keeping up to date with news throughout the day.
5:00 PM: U.S lunchtime: We usually take a break while volume is low or work on trading theory and fundamental teaching sessions.
7:00 PM: Start trading the afternoon session; this is when volume generally picks up significantly.
9:00 PM: Closing bell: I write my trading report diary and summarise my trading records in my daily review with the Head Trader. |
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Martijn Van der Linden
Office Location: I work from remotely, recently relocated to the Swiss Alps.
Why did you decide to undertake become a trader?
What characteristics and skills do you think make a good trader?
What are the best things about the programme at Amplify Trading?
Working remotely is a great feature of the training. You are treated like an adult and must be mature enough to dedicate yourself to the training. I get feedback on my trades instantly and am encouraged to ask questions. There is constant banter about the markets in the virtual trading room so you have colleagues but can skip the commute to the office. For me, the combination between an active outside life and learning trading from experienced traders is perfect. There are a lot of similarities between trading and mountaineering: you make the decisions; you can't blame others for failing.
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Soteris Nicolaou
I attended Amplify's Trading workshop last year while I was studying for my Master's degree after it was proposed by my University's career office. I was impressed by the workshop and the idea of intraday trading and decided to join the training programme after I finished my university course. Amplify provided me all the necessary tools that were needed to do the technical analysis and trade in the market. We had support from senior traders (Piers, Will and Andrea) and with the daily training sessions I was able to understand the market's behaviour and set my trading strategy for the forthcoming day.
What I liked most in this course was the flexibility that was available. No strict timetable and most important is that I was 100% responsible picking my trading strategy and my trades. Amplify didn't tell me what to trade but how to trade. Regular one to one sessions were held to look into my performance and trading behaviour in order to identify my weak points and try to improve them. With the support and guidance my performance was improving week after week and my hesitations towards the market subsided.
Throughout the training, I got exposure to the market from day one. It might have been in a simulation environment for the first 2 months but it was nonetheless overwhelming as it was the entire course. My masters was in a finance related topic, however during this course I realised that there lots of things that cannot be taught in lecture rooms. Things that can only be learned by experience, interaction with the market, good trades and bad trades and sometimes by just observing the market.
After the training at Amplify I was offered a role at Société Générale to support to the Credit Derivatives desk. During the hiring process I was able to demonstrate significant financial understanding for the role; I was at an advantage as the role I was interviewing for is based on the trading floor where communication with traders must be fast and reliable and understanding market data is crucial. My interviewers liked the fact that I was able to demonstrate a solid interest in finance and trading, which placed me in an advantageous position against the candidates for the role.
Stuart Hutchinson
Profile: Currently at a prominent Investment Consulting business. Previously was at Amplify Trading as Proprietary Futures Trader, having joined the firm after successfully completing the four month trainee trader programme.
My training and practical experience at Amplify Trading during the training period and afterwards was extremely useful in the interview stages. It showed I was serious about investment markets, had been trained to a high level and also had first hand experience and understanding of capital flows across markets.