Margin Call

Sophie Gerber (@SophieGerber) is the Founder of Sophie Grace, a legal & compliance consultancy and Co-Founder of TRAction FinTech, a regulatory technology business.

Sophie is a leader in the space of legal & compliance in the finance industry within Australia, publishing regularly across the industry. The breadth of both business, whether it's Sophie Grace or TRAction FinTech, clearly highlight the array of Sophie's knowledge. Her blog posts are quite brilliant in their ability to sort through the weeds that must exist within this space.

This chat with Sophie was a really interesting look into her background, plus the state of legal & compliance in Australia. We covered numerous topics, including:

• The Royal family
• Starting Sophie Grace
• Common mistakes with new financial businesses
• The Royal Commission
• How the industry could change for the better
• Time management, and her role at TRAction FinTech

SHOW NOTES

01:33 - Introduction

03:08 - The royal family

05:19 - Growing up in Sydney

06:31 - Lessons learnt from her parents

08:26 - Her studies and career trajectory

10:24 - Starting Sophie Grace

13:33 - How she explains what she does

14:49 - Common mistakes businesses make

16:52 - The Royal Commission

20:09 - How the industry could change

23:46 - Most interesting observation

24:54 - Greatest change in her area

27:31 - Time management, her role at TRAction

29:16 - Daily routine

29:59 - Book recommendations

33:04 - Best purchase under $200

LINKS (IN ORDER OF EPISODE)

• Sophie Grace
• TRAction Fintech
• Westpac
• Commonwealth Bank
• Macquarie
• Adele Ferguson
• AustralianSuper
• Crazy Rich Asians, by Kevin Kwan
• Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance
• Microsoft foldable keyboard

Karen Wong (@KarenWong) is a private FX & Equities Trader, Sydney Chapter Secretary of the Australian Technical Analysts Association and technical contributor for Guppytraders.com.

Karen's entire career has been focused on private trading across primarily equity markets and contributing to technical communities like Guppytraders, which has a unique perspective in the industry. Her technical analysis is regularly used to help the community pursue the development of this speciality, particularly with her engagement in the Sydney ATAA chapter.

This is a great chat that uncovers the perspective of private traders, which covered topics such as:

• Her background and how she got into trading
• Her trading principles, methods, and indicators
• Fundamental and technical analysis
• How to utilise technical analysis and its key principles

SHOW NOTES

01:33 - Introduction

03:19 - Earliest memory

04:46 - Lessons learnt from parents

06:33 - Her background, how she got into trading

13:13 - Day-to-day schedule

16:03 - Markets of interest

17:23 - Trading principles, methods, and indicators

21:57 - Fundamental and technical analysis

25:40 - Utilising technical analysis, Bitcoin

27:20 - Principles for technical analysis

29:52 - What she would do with $100 million

30:35 - Best purchase under $200

31:36 - Book recommendation

LINKS (IN ORDER OF EPISODE)

• Karen on LinkedIn
• Angus & Robertson
• Share Trading, by Daryl Guppy
• Zero Hedge
• Guppy Traders
• ATAA
• Value Investing
• Muji
• The Long Walk, by Stephen King

Andrea Marani (@AndreaMarani) is the CEO of OpenMarkets and longtime operator in the financial services space. A South African at heart, the now Aussie financial operator has many runs on the board with organisations like Investec, Rabobank, Shaw & Partners, plus the foundation of South Africa's largest CFD business - Global Trader.

OpenMarkets is a Digital Trading Platform that provides clients with direct access to markets via a range of digital technologies including API's and trading platforms like IRESS. Their primary focus is the provision of trading tools and services for B2B clients across Equities, Exchange Traded Products & Warrants.

This chat with Andrea was a really interesting look into his background, and wealth of experience across financial markets. We covered numerous topics, including:

• What he misses about South Africa and why he moved to Australia
• Early memories of making wine
• Highlights of his career
• The impact of technology on financial markets
• Open Markets and their focus
• New products he's excited about

SHOW NOTES

01:33 - Introduction

03:15 - What he misses about South Africa

04:54 - Earliest memory, winemaking

08:12 - Lessons learnt from parents

09:45 - Why he moved to Australia

13:49 - Background, how he got started

16:30 - A highlight of his career

17:51 - How tech is changing the industry

20:58 - Open Markets and their focus

27:34 - Their principles and approach

31:38 - Products he's excited about

34:02 - Daily routine

34:57 - Influential book

36:30 - If he could have a billboard anywhere

LINKS (IN ORDER OF EPISODE)

• Andrea on LinkedIn
• Open Markets on Facebook & LinkedIn
• Kruger National Park
• Wilbur Smith
• Boerewors
• Investec
• SelfWealth
• Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell

Khim Khor (@KhimKhor) is GO Markets' COO and Executive Director. He started out as a Sales Manager for the Asia business, just when this new demographic was opening up for the CFD/Forex industry. Five years later he stands as COO and an integral part of the GO Markets team, with a unique perspective on Asia. A lifelong student of Economics, Khim has always had a penchant for understanding how markets work and of course his love for sambal.

This is a great episode where we cover:

• Sambal, and growing up in Malaysia
• His time and role at GO Markets
• The Asia market
• Trading & gambling in Asia compared to Australia
• Asian investor perspective
• USA & China trade relations
• What sitcom best resembles Go Markets office

SHOW NOTES

01:33 - Introduction

02:55 - Sambal, and growing up in Malaysia

05:26 - Background and how he got into Forex

07:10 - Modular housing

08:33 - How he came to Australia

09:26 - Lessons learnt from his parents

10:07 - His time and role at GO Markets

13:52 - The Asia market

16:44 - Trading in Asia compared to Australia, gambling

20:30 - Asian investor perspective

22:56 - USA & China trade relations

29:07 - What sitcom best resembles Go Markets office

29:58 - Daily routine

30:21 - Best purchase under $200

31:34 - Favourite movie

31:46 - If he could have a billboard anywhere in Australia

LINKS (IN ORDER OF EPISODE)

• Khim on LinkedIn
• Penang
• Reserve Bank of Australia
• Modular housing
• University of Tasmania
• Pepperstone
• Donald Trump
• Xi Jinping
• Communist Party of China
• Salami tactics
• How Not to Be Wrong, by Jordan Ellenberg
• The Big Short

David Hall (@DavidHall) is the Co-Founder of Tapaas and former Principal Architect across numerous financial institutions including Westpac, Macquarie Bank and Citigroup. David made his way into the industry through a unique opportunity at Salomon Brothers, an organisation that had a lasting impact on David. Twenty years later, and many runs on the board with institutions as a financial systems architect, David now runs his own business - Tapaas.

Tapaas is an analytics platform that accelerates profit from insights for finance markets enterprises. The platform provides analytical power to growing companies, that was only previously available to the premier financial institutions that David used to work for.

David has a fascinating background and life experience as an expat. We covered a vast array of topics, including:

• What he misses about America and loves about Australia
• His father and lessons learnt from him
• Experience travelling as an expat, particularly in Japan
• Financial innovation at organisations like Salomon Brothers
• Tapaas and its work with retail brokers
• Principles for applying risk & technology

SHOW NOTES

01:33 - Introduction

03:25 - What he misses about America

04:28 - His father and lessons learnt from him

08:12 - Accounting

09:18 - Finance tech

11:42 - Japan

13:01 - Salomon Brothers

14:01 - What he loves about Australia

17:41 - His role and what fin tech systems are

22:36 - Greatest insight of his work experience

26:50 - Foreign exchange retail brokers, risk and exposure

32:31 - Principles for applying finance solutions

36:22 - Daily routine

37:56 - What book he would gift

38:47 - Words he lives by

LINKS (IN ORDER OF EPISODE)

• Tapaas website, Twitter
• Salomon Brothers
• J.P. Morgan
• Goldman Sachs
• Macquarie Group
• Westpac
• Citigroup
• Peter Drucker
• Python (programming language)
• Q (programming language)
• Peopleware, by Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister

Tom Williams (@TomW_GOMarkets) is GO Markets' Head of Trading. He started out as a Dealer & Broker in the excitement-driven City of London across Equities, Fixed Income and Foreign Exchange. Learning the technical aspects of what is now a software-driven business, has allowed Tom to lead all trading operations at GO Markets, keeping the show literally on the road. Old Scouse loves a laugh and a pint, always affable enough to show you the bright side of life as Monty Python says.

This is a fascinating episode where we cover:

• What brought him to Australia and what he misses about the UK
• His role as head of trading at GO Markets
• Swiss National Bank Crisis
• The GFC & Brexit
• What sitcom best portrays the GO Market office

SHOW NOTES

02:38 - Introduction

04:07 - Tom's wedding and background

05:42 - What brought him to Australia

07:56 - What he misses about home (UK)

08:47 - Lessons learnt from his parents

10:09 - His role as head of trading at GO Markets

11:56 - Swiss National Bank Crisis

15:02 - Most crucial aspect of his job

16:50 - GFC, immigration in Australia

20:05 - Brexit

23:44 - Branching out into liquidity, clientele

26:44 - What sitcom best portrays the GO Market office

28:15 - Daily routine

29:30 - The God Delusion

30:55 - Favourite movies and docos

32:36 - Best purchase under $200

LINKS (IN ORDER OF EPISODE)

• Swiss National Bank Crisis
• Flash Crash
• Brexit
• Lehman Brothers Collapse
• Global Financial Crisis
• Nigel Farage
• The Office (UK)
• The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins
• The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins
• Schindler's List
• The Wannsee Conference

---- Write in with feedback about this episode to stand a chance to win a copy of Vee's recommended trading book "The Next Perfect Trade" autographed by author Alex Gurevich, as well as prizes worth up to US$300! Submit your feedback here: https://trackrecordasia.com/podcast. -----

Vee Leung Phan (@TrackRecordAsia) is the Founder of TrackRecord Asia and former Head of Trading across multiple divisions for Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley.

Vee made his way into the industry by chance, after realising there was no real opportunity back home during the 1997 Asia Financial Crisis. Fast forward 13+ years and Vee had co-founded a hedge fund, run multiple divisions for both Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, and co-founded a machine learning tech startup.

TrackRecord Asia is a financial training academy for trading teams in banks and professional traders - designed to teach you the frameworks learnt in his days across first-class institutions.

Vee is a great guy, with a wealth of experience across the industry. This is a great episode where we cover:

• Singapore and his childhood in Kuala Lumpur
• Uni life in Manchester and how he got into trading
• Lessons learnt from his mother
• Career path and insight into the industry
• His trading training framework
• The biggest mistake in the business

SHOW NOTES

01:33 - Introduction

04:07 - Singapore and his childhood in Kuala Lumpur

06:51 - What he wanted to be when he grew up

07:50 - Uni in Manchester and how he got into trading

11:35 - His personality within the industry

13:29 - Lessons learnt from his mother

18:31 - His career path and insight into the industry

23:47 - Trading training framework

30:53 - The biggest mistake in the business

33:25 - Daily routine

34:30 - What book he would gift

36:15 - Best purchase under $200

LINKS (IN ORDER OF EPISODE)

• TrackRecord Website, Twitter
• Singapore
• Kuala Lumpur
• Spider-Man
• University of Manchester
• University of Cambridge
• Imperial College London
• JPMorgan Chase & Co.
• Bloomberg
• What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars
• The Next Perfect Trade, by Alex Gurevich

Margin Call is the podcast that gives you behind-the-scenes access to the ups and downs of working in the Forex and CFD industry. We interview the people that keep the show on the road, giving you insight into what makes the industry tick.

The series is guest hosted by Jordan Michaelides and produced by the team at Neuralle Media.

To learn more visit https://www.gomarkets.com.au/podcast/

Theme song: The Good Ol Days (Film Edit) - Top Shelf Groove