6.00 AM
My alarm goes off and I listen to the news headlines on the radio in bed for a few minutes. A quick shower before I cycle into work, crossing Tower Bridge and seeing the city in the early morning! My commute is only 20 minutes and I enjoy getting some exercise to clear my head for the upcoming day.
6.45 AM
Arrive at my desk and get the various sheets and tools we use up and running. I’ll also check for any important overnight news and see how the relevant markets have moved overnight
7.00 AM
Our market opens at 7.00 am (8.00 am in Europe) but the first 30 minutes are quiet. I discuss trade ideas and various scenarios with one of my colleagues. The other traders on my team are very experienced so I’m constantly learning from them.
8.00 AM
It starts to get busier as several brokers call us to refresh our prices on various option strategies they have an interest in trading - it’s our role as market makers to provide a bid and offer price to them.
One trade leads to a chain reaction of another trading, and we need to adjust the prices we are making in order to reflect the fair market value.
9.30 AM
I grab a coffee and some breakfast from the kitchen. I’ll either have yogurt or eggs depending on how busy it is but there’s always a good choice of food throughout the day!
12.30 PM
The market is quieter so I get back to working on projects which we’ll use to inform our trading. I use python to do the analysis, which is a skill I’ve picked up since joining Maven. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve our trading set-up help our decision making.
1.30 PM
Back to the kitchen for some lunch - I make a salad with some salmon and keep an eye on the market as I eat.
3.00 PM
A news headline on Brexit sparks a flurry of trading. We react quickly and make several trades which we believe are now good value. It remains busy for a few hours after this news and there’s a lot of information that needs to be processed in a short period.
6.00 PM
The market closes but there are a few bits of admin to do before I can leave. For example, I send out a summary of our team’s day to the company and check all our trades have been processed correctly.
6.30 PM
I cycle down the road to meet my friends for a game of football. We play in a league each week and it’s a great way to stay in touch with friends from university.
8.30 PM
I cook a quick dinner with one of my housemates and we watch something on TV to relax at the end of the day. I’ll normally try and get 7 hours of sleep to feel fresh for the next day