A practical experience in: APPLIED GLOBAL MACROECONOMICS, INVESTMENT BANK TRADING & ASSET MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE
A practical experience at the forefront of financial markets
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE Amplify Trading would like to offer students who may be interested in a financial career, an invaluable practical experience relevant to today s financial industry. Amplify Trading s world renowned financial market training simulations are used each year by corporations such as HSBC, Citibank, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank for the training of their new graduate employees. These institutions all recognise the gap that exists between financial market theory and practice, and the ability of our technology to help students bridge that gap. As students engage with contemporary financial markets from the reference point of an asset manager, investment bank sales trader and a hedge fund they gain a practical understanding of how the financial industry works today. Students also get to find out to what career they may be best suited within the industry, as they receive full performance reports as they progress through each role and an industry recognised certification on completion. Students will: Apply a macroeconomic understanding to trade across international financial markets in response to breaking financial news and analysis Operate as a market maker and sales trader to experience both the buy side and the sell side of the industry using our flow trading systems utilised by all our investment bank clients Allocate assets effectively during a portfolio management simulation with the objective of beating the benchmark performance Experience first hand the implications of behavioural finance and the gap between financial theory and practice
RETRADER IN ACTION, LONDON 2016 DAY ONE 09:00 13:00 CLARITY ON TODAY S FUNDAMENTAL DRIVERS UNDERSTANDING GLOBAL INDICATORS Review: Global growth Political volatility Commodity & USD trends Review: Equities Commodities FX Fixed Income PRACTICAL APPLICATION RETRADER 1: Candidates ReTrade the main political events of 2016 and 2017 to date. SPOTLIGHT ON FED AND ECB DIVERGENCE US growth momentum US and EU inflation outlook Eurozone growth momentum ECB QE Political risk Fed outlook PRACTICAL APPLICATION RETRADER 2: Candidates trade ECB and FED decisions and discuss merits and impact of each central bank s strategy. SPOTLIGHT ON ECONOMIC DATA Understanding the impact of news How to source information Managing risk in a data driven environment PRACTICAL APPLICATION RETRADER 3: Candidates trade across assets through the most significant recent economic data.
DAY ONE 13:00 17:00 PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT Review: Economic Cycle, Asset Class Correlation. Review: Portfolio Construction, Geographical allocation, Client Profiles and Associated Risk Constraints. RISK MANAGEMENT Risk management protocols for simulation. Performance Measurements: Relative Return, Absolute Return and the behavioural impact on performance. PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT SIMULATION 1 Students log into the PMTRADER platform on any Mac or PC and form teams of 2. Teams analyse macro economic analysis hand outs, and begin to design their asset allocation for their $20mn global multi asset fund. Twelve months of real market movement then begins in 3 month increments, with each period of movement taking 15 minutes in the simulation. The platform delivers breaking news items as they occurred in that year, and delegates are able to actively trade whilst markets are moving to adjust their portfolios in reaction to the news development. PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT SIMULATION 2 Teams analyse macro economic analysis hand outs, and begin to design their asset allocation for their $20mn global long equity only fund. Another 12 month period of real data unfolds and students experience managing assets from the reference point of a long only equity fund. SESSION REVIEW Review and key learning outcomes following the two simulations. Performance results: Relative Return vs Benchmark, Absolute return and relative Peer group leader board.
DAY TWO INVESTMENT BANK TRADING 09:00 10:30 11:00 14:00 16:30 UNDERSTANDING INVESTMENT BANKS Review: Roles and objectives of an Investment Bank Review: Quote driven versus order driven markets Review: Investment bank client relationships PLATFORM INTRODUCTION Students trial the FLOWTRADER platform in different roles before the simulation begins. Methods of assessment during the simulation are explained to the students. INVESTMENT BANK TRADING SESSION 1 Students understand, through experience, how different assets are traded at an investment bank, and the information path necessary to facilitate clients trades. Students are split into 2 groups. On one side, students work as a pair in sales trading and trading roles for the investment bank; the other group operate as hedge fund clients. The way a student can trade will depend on the underlying structure of the instrument traded. For example, less liquid rates products will be tradeable over-the-counter only between the buy side and sell side. As candidates work together to make markets and unwind risk on the exchange, or through a naturalcross, the platform generates an electric atmosphere of competition and concentration. INVESTMENT BANK TRADING SESSION 2 Students swap roles so those who had operated as the investment bank now become the hedge fund clients, and the hedge fund clients work as the investment bank. TRADING REVIEW Each student will receive a detailed report of their performance in each role which can be used to further their career in finance.
DAY THREE LIVE MARKET TRADING 09:00 10:00 13:00 UNDERSTANDING TECHNICAL ANALYSIS Trends, support and resistance Momentum indicators and reversal patterns AN INTRODUCTION TO TRADING PSYCHOLOGY Behavioural finance in 2017 Prospect theory and investor irrationality Managing your trading mindset LIVE MARET TRADING Students use our LIVETRADER platform to trade the cash open of U.S. markets and manage their own trading desk, using news feeds from Bloomberg and Reuters. Connected in real-time to Amplify s trading floor in London, students will be prepared for economic data as they take positions across multiple asset classes, applying the financial market theory learned into the real world. This invaluable trading experience will incorporate technical analysis, fundamental analysis and behavioural finance. 16:30 TRADING REVIEW Each student will receive a detailed report of their trading performance which can be used as an asset for their CV and future career in finance.
Combining direct investment banking experience with asset management practice, will give any student an unparalleled competitive advantage in the financial industry Piers Curran Head of Trading
TESTIMONIALS DAVIDE KOTLAR: JPMORGAN I would like to thank you for the amazing experience I had this summer. I had the opportunity to interview with many institutions (Nomura, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, HSBC, ICAP) and I finally received two offers from JPMorgan and Credit Suisse both in Sales & Trading for the 2016 Summer Internship inlondon. I accepted JPMorgan today. Amplify has been a huge selling-point and you cannot imagine how many times the interviewers were delighted to talk about this experience. SHARON AGRAWAL: GOLDMAN SACHS The Amplify experience on my CV has actually been crucial in both getting interviews and also helping me perform well in them; all the employers seem very pleased with a candidate with actual market-facing trading experience. I managed to secure a summer internship with the Strats (Quant) group at Goldman Sachs and they mentioned the Amplify experience as pivotal in the decision in awarding me the internship. Goldman Sachs mentioned the Amplify experience as pivotal in the decision in awarding me the internship. Truly a highlight of training. The facilitators were incredibly prepared and the interface advanced. This was simply the best and most important part of training. Kellie Burke, Bank of America Merrill Lynch VP, Global Markets Learning
ABOUT US Founded in London in 2009 by Piers Curran and Will de Lucy, Amplify has built a team of traders to execute short-term macroeconomic strategies in the post-crisis era of global market volatility. Placing the highest value on the development of its traders, Amplify has created a ground breaking approach to capital markets training, now integral to many of the world s largest financial institutions. As participants progress through this unique practical programme, performance at each stage is recorded and reviewed to give candidates a full insight into how well they are suited to different financial roles. In 2015 Amplify was awarded The CFA Institute global prize for innovation in financial education
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