Futures Masters – Interviews with Futex Academy’s elite traders
Welcome to January’s Futures Masters - Interviews with Futex Academy’s elite traders. This month, Senior Futex Trader Gabriele Gandini lifts the lid on his personal approach to trading. Gabriele has been a trader at Futex since 2007 and currently trades Dax and Crude Oil.
What made you decide to get into trading?
A passion for the markets, a willingness to compete and a desire to prove myself. On top of that I think trading is one of the few completely meritocratic jobs and there is no shortcut to success. Only the best succeed and this is a big motivation for me. I wouldn't be completely honest if I didn’t mention the money factor. I think that trading is one of the few careers in which, even if financially you start from zero, you can still become big, if you have the skills. I think that if you are very good, and that’s the hard part, there is no job in the world that can give so much money in so small a time-frame.
Had you traded before joining Futex Academy?
Before joining Futex I was trading Italian equities part-time from home. I survived for the first two years before getting completely destroyed in a single trade. That was probably the moment when I decided I wanted to pursue a trading career. I didn't want to leave my money to the market; at the very least I wanted to make my money back! I think this kind of motivation is essential to be a trader. Whilst trading in Italy I didn't have the proper infrastructure I needed to trade effectively, so I decided to move to the UK where trading is a professional career and join Futex! I thought that if I failed in UK, at least I had given it everything and then I would have been able to return to Italy with no regrets.
Tell me about your personal approach to the markets and what you trade today.
I have a very short trading time frame and I try to open and close positions in a few seconds. I think that the more you stay in the market, the more you are exposed to risky events and that a small price movement is easier to predict than a big one. I think it is very frustrating to be onside a few ticks and then be forced to take a loser on that trade so I prefer to take my profits quickly, and try to get back in again at the appropriate time.
I don't use trend lines, indicators or market profile. I passionately think that the price action, in a small time frame, tells you everything you need to know to trade. I'm aware of support and resistance just in case there is a chance stops might be triggered. In the past I used technical analysis as a way to justify my losses.
I strongly believe that the more you go around talking about the market instead of watching it, the less money you make.
After a couple of years trading EuroStoxx 50 I moved to Oil and DAX in 2009. I believe it is easier to be disciplined in a faster market because if you’re not, you will be out of the business quickly!
What has been your most successful trading period?
2008, with the financial crisis, was the busiest for me for sure. It was an exceptional year with significant news coming out almost every day. There was a lot of volatility and this is what intraday traders look for because with volatility comes opportunity.
Has the financial crisis affected your trading?
I think that any time you spend in front of the computer watching the market affects your future trading so of course the financial crisis affected mine. I think we have all seen the market during a period of extreme volatility that is unlikely to be back soon. For now I believe it's very important to adjust your trading to the new market conditions. Very often I employ a trading style that used to be effective, but that no longer performs, just because I was used to make money with it. I think it's very important to be flexible and adjust to the market as soon as you realize that a strategy is not working anymore.
What has been your secret to consistent success in the market?
I think that the road to success in the market is very long and hard. To be honest, I only consider myself to be at the first step of a tall staircase. I do not really know if there is any secret to success, I just believe that there is a lot of time to spend in front of the market trying to understand the price action and I believe that you need to put more than 100% into the job if you want to have even a small chance of success. When I think that there are thousands of people every day around the world watching the market I'm watching, I just ask myself “how can I be better than most of them?”
For sure I have a passion for trading that has allowed me to overcome many difficult moments in my trading career so far. It has enabled me to find the extra motivation to move on and become a better trader and person whilst trying to avoid the same mistakes that unfortunately are made more often than once in the market! There will be always bad days and it's crucial to be able to accept them as part of the job and move on.
What kind of misconceptions do people have about trading as a career?
Some people think that you can sit in front of the market and from day one make a lot of money, just like that. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way and that's probably why I like it; because it's a big challenge to compete with all the clever people around the world and try to profit from them. Its hard work in terms of time (watching the market), energy (trying to stay focused all the time, day after day), psychology (coping with good moments, without getting too excited as well as bad moments, without getting depressed). It's a learning process every day and it's never ending. We always learn from the market and we need to be able to absorb that information as fast as we can if we want to succeed the following day.
If you could have your time again, would you do anything differently?
In terms of trading, it would be easy to say "I would have avoided that bad trade" or "eliminated that trading behavior". However, I think that every trade, good or bad, like all the missed opportunities, has been important in making me into the trader I am at the moment. So, if an awful day can help me to be a better trader in the future, it's more than welcome, as long as I learn the lesson (and as long as that loss doesn't kick me out of the business!). So, when in the past I've done something wrong in the market, it means that at that time it was the right thing to do for me, so I would probably do it again. The only thing I regret is that I didn't start trading earlier!
What, in your experience, makes a successful trader?
Again, if one day I could call myself a successful trader, then I could probably answer this question better. At the moment, from what I have experienced, I think that the main traits I feel I need to become a successful trader are: method, discipline, self-control and patience. I also think a big passion for the job, respect for the market, humility, determination and a willingness to succeed are essential traits. Then, I think it is very important to be able to free yourself from the ‘money factor’. What I mean is that if you need to make money, it's very likely you will lose money. So I'm just trying to do what I believe is the right thing to do in the market and forget I'm dealing with money. Whenever I think how much I'm losing in one trade, I end up losing even more.
But, specifically in the intraday trading, I believe that there are three main qualities needed to perform well: the ability to read the market, good money management, and continual discipline. Unfortunately, in trading, a small weakness is not forgiven by the market and it can more than destroy all the positive effects of the strengths. That is why I feel I need to be prepared mentally, technically, physically and psychologically.
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Tags: Crude Oil, Dax, equities, indicators, market profile, profits, support and resistance, ticks, time frame, trend lines
