Trading Financial Markets in an Investment Bank

Course details

Designed for traders interested in learning the markets "under the hood". How investment banks price FX contracts, the transaction flows, best practices of technical analysis, transitioning from pure technicals to adding fundamentals as tools. Lastly, understanding the influence of the Federal Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy on the financial markets. 

To get used to larger volumes and large number of trades we practice trading on a simulator. We also join a community of traders to share strategies in the markets. 

This course is the first part of the series designed to quickly elevate your trading skills from beginner to an advanced level. 

This series is divided into 3 parts to avoid an information overload and to ensure traders complete the basics before moving on to intermediate topics. 

Course 1 - Trading in an Investment Bank

FX transaction analysis and pricing in an investment bank + The FX Landscape + Technical Analysis Best Practices + Trading Strategies on a Simulator + Money Management Best Practices (Goal - Beginner to Intermediary)

Course 2 - Tradeonomics 

Building the relationship between economic entities, economic indicators, asset price determinants and the central bank's monetary policy determination (Goal - Trade technicals + Fundamentals)

Course 3 - Demystifying the Federal Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy 

Building relationships between economic entities, economic indicators, banking asset liability management, monetary aggregates, open market operations, fed funds markets, discount window and much more.

Coupons for all courses are available in the introductory lectures.

The Investment Banking Perspective - Many courses in trading are taught from the perspective of a retail trader who is a few layers away from the "core" of the FX markets. In the OTC foreign exchange market, the market makers or price makers on the interbank desk are at the core of the action. To understand the Forex market "under the hood", we need to learn what the market makers know. 

This series teaches the strategies used by market makers to trade the markets. By mixing fundamentals, technicals, money management techniques and gaining the knowledge of how central bankers determine the monetary policy - by the end of the series you will have acquired the knowledge and techniques used by investment bankers in trading vanilla financial markets.

There are traders who use only technicals for trading, traders who use only fundamentals for trading and those that use both. Both technicals and fundamentals have their merits and demerits, which we shall compare. When we take positions in a FX simulator we will make a very strong case that by using both tools our profitability increases. We also become more aware of what the big players or "strong hands" are looking for. 

What we strive for in this series is to gain the knowledge of the "strong hands". In FX, commodities, stock trading the strong hands are those that have all the skills, technology, training, and many more tools that assist them in their decision making process. 

So how does the lone trader compete with the "strong hands" in this complex integrated financial system? The answer is 

1. Acquiring the skills - FX transaction analysis, Technicals, Money Management, Fundamental Analysis and Central Bank's Monetary Policy
2. Multiple trades - Make hundreds of mock trades on a simulator.  We will see how to in this course so that you treat winning and losing with the same indifference.
3. Join a community - Join a FB page where traders can share ideas/strategies across regions
4. Technology - there are some powerful free technologies that we shall use in this course and more powerful paid ones.

Four essential skills for any trader - 

• The complete math - we learn how to price FX outrights, FX swaps, carry trades, covered and uncovered interest arbitrage, the complete FX lifecycle right from pre-trade to settlement to reconciliation and more.
• Technical analysis and Money Management - The FX Landscape to get a macro picture, Basic theory such as the Dow theory, trends, trendlines, speedlines, channels, Fibonacci retracements, continuation and reversal patterns, moving averages, oscillators, contrarian theory, and more
• Trading strategies (part of technical analysis) - money management (Not MPT), but prudent strategies related to FX trading
• Fundamental Analysis - economic indicators related to GDP, inflation and their workings; how to use these indicators practically for trading by creating an impact analysis spreadsheet and using this data for taking positions
• Central Bank's Monetary Policy - how the central banks determine their monetary policy to influence short term interest rates and the economic indicators they follow. (we will add these as bonus lectures as the scope is vast)

Once we arm ourselves with these four pillars we should be able to gain a "complete" picture of the trading environment.

Who is course is designed for - If you're looking at investment banking as a career, or you are a retail / corporate trader who is looking at deeper insights to how the FX OTC market functions then this course is ideal for you. If you are a stock , commodity, or bond trader and looking to implement what's taught in this course then the first section on FX math may or may not be of interest to you. However you could easily use the same principles of technicals, trading strategies, fundamentals and central bank sections for the markets of your interest. This course could also be used by those trading cryptocurrencies and want to trade other currencies.

Indicative timelines - 

Week 1 - Quickly move through the basic math concepts and move to the more advanced topics. Begin mock trading even if you don't have any views. Join the community of traders on Facebook.

Week 2 - Understand the best practices of technical analysis and begin implementing them in your daily trading.

Week 3 - Create your impact analysis spreadsheet and start mixing techs and fundamentals in your daily trading

Week 4 - Understand central bank's monetary policy determination (added as a bonus section)

For those who are not familiar with economic indicators there is a coupon inside for the Tradeonomics course as a bonus for making it to the fundamentals section.

Request for Review

Please also take the time and effort to leave a honest review that would benefit your fellow students and any constructive feedback would be appreciated.

If you do take this course please participate on the FB group, course discussions, make hundreds of trades on the simulator - win or lose. 

If you need further information you could write to me at mikesh@algmx.com

Hope you enjoy and look forward to seeing you in this journey to becoming a sound disciplined trader.

In the words of Rudyard Kipling...

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'...."

Rudyard Kipling, IF