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The 1:10 Q&A with Ioan Smith

By Martin Cloake


Updated

The big questions highlighted on a signpost

Profile

Name: Ioan Smith

Age: 45

Location: London

Job: Macro analyst

Links: @moved_average
@semaphoremacro 

Ioan SmithIoan Smith

1. What or who got you into trading?

I started off in the product management group at Lehman Brothers, photocopying morning packs, basically being a gopher (getting teas, coffees, breakfast, lunch) for the sales desk, before moving into research and eventually sales trading.

2. When was that?

2000.

3. What market do you trade most and why?

Major indices over single stocks. Faster paced and more opportunities for the most part.

4. How do you decide to enter or exit a trade?

Magic 8 Ball. Only joking. At the moment I have a more position/investment approach so trades can vary from days/weeks to weeks/months. So my entry points are not as rigid as if I was day or swing trading. Obviously everything depends on market conditions but I will use resistance/support levels as basis for entry/exit for the most part.  If you stay disciplined within your own set of guidelines you’ll get more confidence over your own strategies.

Oil - Crude

74.50 Price
-1.560% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0136%
Short position overnight fee -0.0083%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.040

XRP/USD

0.62 Price
+0.310% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0753%
Short position overnight fee 0.0069%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.01168

BTC/USD

38,847.00 Price
+0.050% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 106.00

Gold

2,072.25 Price
+1.760% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0193%
Short position overnight fee 0.0111%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.30

5. Which trading influencers do you follow?

I wouldn’t say I follow influencers per se. I have found a niche group of people, funnily enough from Twitter, who we constantly bounce ideas off.

6. What was your most successful trade?

The Fed’s emergency rate cut back in 2008. I had been tracking the 6M T-bill and noticed that the Fed tended to make decisions based on outsized moves in the yield. We bought the e-mini’s which saw a 300+ point move but as always in hindsight on successful trades, the position size wasn’t nearly big enough!

7. What was your worst trade?

Took an overnight pre-earnings release long position in a renewable energy stock which promptly decided to issue a profit warning half an hour before the market opened for the day. Stock opened -10% in a hole and it took me weeks to make up the loss.

8. What is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt from trading?

Don’t be afraid of losing trades. It’s all part of the learning curve and helps set up the profitable ones. Once you acknowledge that losing on some trades is inevitable you can deal with them quickly and move on without any emotional baggage. I heard a great trader at one of the banks I used to work at always say “I score runs, don’t worry about what my batting average looks like”.

9. What do you think are some of the biggest myths about trading?

More buyers than sellers or vice versa. I hate the term. There can be more buyers than sellers and the market still move in the other direction. Could just well be that sellers are more motivated!

10. What’s the one piece of advice you’d give someone just starting?

Be disciplined. It’s all about keeping good records, specialise in a few markets, don't spread yourself too thin and stay patient.

Read more: The 1:10 Q&A with David Belle

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The difference between trading assets and CFDs
The main difference between CFD trading and trading assets, such as commodities and stocks, is that you don’t own the underlying asset when you trade on a CFD.
You can still benefit if the market moves in your favour, or make a loss if it moves against you. However, with traditional trading you enter a contract to exchange the legal ownership of the individual shares or the commodities for money, and you own this until you sell it again.
CFDs are leveraged products, which means that you only need to deposit a percentage of the full value of the CFD trade in order to open a position. But with traditional trading, you buy the assets for the full amount. In the UK, there is no stamp duty on CFD trading, but there is when you buy stocks, for example.
CFDs attract overnight costs to hold the trades (unless you use 1-1 leverage), which makes them more suited to short-term trading opportunities. Stocks and commodities are more normally bought and held for longer. You might also pay a broker commission or fees when buying and selling assets direct and you’d need somewhere to store them safely.
Capital Com is an execution-only service provider. The material provided on this website is for information purposes only and should not be understood as an investment advice. Any opinion that may be provided on this page does not constitute a recommendation by Capital Com or its agents. We do not make any representations or warranty on the accuracy or completeness of the information that is provided on this page. If you rely on the information on this page then you do so entirely on your own risk.

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