Margin Call Podcast

Margin Call Podcast

Margin Call: Behind the Scenes in the Forex Industry

Margin Call is an exciting new podcast series that gives you behind-the-scenes access to the ups and downs of working in the Forex/CFD industry. We interview the people that keep the show on the road. This series is guest-hosted by Jordan Michaelides and produced by the team at Neuralle Media.


Listen to Margin Call below:

Episode 13:
Roger Montgomery | Montgomery Investment Management

Roger Montgomery is the Founder and CIO of Montgomery Investment Management and Author of value investing book, Value.able.

Roger’s nous in value investing and online trading sees himself and his team regularly in the media and press, including The Australian, The Herald Sun and Money magazine.

Some of the topics we covered in this episode include:

    1. First signs of COVID impact
    2. Opportunities in the current market
    3. Retail trading
    4. Bank’s current issues
    5. Recovery and JobKeeper & more


Episode 12:

Alex Saunders | Nuggets News

Alex Saunders who is affectionately known as “Nugget”, is one of Australia’s foremost market commentators and educators in the digital asset space.

The second time on the show, Alex’s commentary is more important than ever during these unusual times.

Some of the topics we covered in this episode include:

    1. The near future outlook
    2. Opportunity in chaos
    3. Money allocation: Wall Street vs Mainstreet
    4. Australia’s supply chain & manufacturing & more



Episode 11:
Callam Pickering | APAC Economist at Indeed

Callam Pickering is an APAC economist at Indeed, providing labour market insight within Australia.

Callam has extensive knowledge into the Australian economy, having worked at organisations such as the RBA and Business Spectator.

Some of the topics we covered include:

    1. COVID-19 affected data
    2. Defining and measuring unemployment
    3. Opportunities at a volatile time
    4. Principles around reviewing and reporting data
    5. Australian economy, best ways forward & more


Episode 10:
Martin North | Principal of Digital Finance Analytics

Martin North (LinkedIn) is the Principal of Digital Finance Analytics, a boutique research, analysis and consulting firm, who runs regular commentaries on his Walk the World YouTube channel.

As a previous guest to Margin Call (Season 2, Episode 6), we thought it was important to gain his insight and opinion into the economy, particularly during a pandemic.

Some of the topics we covered include:

    1. Opportunities in the market
    2. Capitalism and future forecasting
    3. Key calendar events coming up
    4. Good indicators of the economy
    5. The global economy & more


Episode 9:
Tim Dickinson | General Manager of Platforms at Assembly Payments

Tim Dickinson (LinkedIn) is the General Manager of Platform at Assembly Payments.

Assembly is one of Australia’s fastest-growing fin-tech companies that offers a payment platform for marketplaces, platforms and banks, partnering with the likes of Zip Pay, Hipages, and Coin Spot.

Some of the topics we covered include:

    1. Moving to Singapore
    2. Assembly’s growth
    3. Personality and business
    4. Working remotely
    5. Coping with a pandemic


Episode 8:
Evan Lucas | Chief Market Strategist at InvestSMART

Evan Lucas (LinkedIn) Chief Market Strategist at InvestSMART, Market Commentator, and Founder of The Lucas Review.

Having gained experience at a number of top-tier global institutions, Evan is naturally a specialist at markets analysis.

Some of the topics we covered include:

      1. Victoria’s current COVID state
      2. Recovery and historic examples
      3. Childhood and career aspirations
      4. How he got started in his career
      5. Guiding principles


Episode 7:
Brendan Malone | COO of Raiz

Brendan Malone (LinkedIn) is the COO of Raiz – a micro-investing and savings app with over $300M of FUM and 600k users. Brendan has also held roles at organisations such as Royal Bank of Scotland and ABN AMRO.

Some of the topics we covered include:

    1. Adapting to COVID-19
    2. Startups vs establishments
    3. Raiz Invest portfolios and brokerage
    4. Personal habits and guiding principles


Episode 6:
Simon Pressley | Managing Director of Propertyology

Simon Pressley (LinkedIn) is the Managing Director of Propertyology, Australian (REIA) Real Estate Hall of Famer and graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Simon regularly shares property investing insights with the media, regularly visiting Your Money, Domain, Realestate.com.au, and Sky News Real Estate.

Some of the topics we covered include:

    1. How Simon got into property
    2. Career highlights and lowlights
    3. His guiding principles
    4. Coronavirus impact and future
    5. Advice for young property investors.


Episode 5:
Julia Lee | Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Burman Invest

Julia Lee (Twitter) is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Burman Invest.

With 20 years of experience in financial markets, Julia is one of Australia’s best-known financial experts in providing financial commentary to Sky News, Bloomberg and CNBC, just to name a few.

 

Some of the topics covered in this episode include:

    1. COVID-19 and markets response to the health crisis
    2. Career takeaways
    3. Hard lessons learned
    4. Her guiding principles
    5. Who she looks up to and book recommendations.


Episode 4:
Samuel Junghenn | Founder & CEO of Symbiosis Capital

Samuel Junghenn (LinkedIn) is the Founder & CEO of Symbiosis Capital – a Forex trading company that uses its technology to empower Social Enterprises, Charities and Impact Funds with high yielding investments so they can change even more lives.

Samuel shares some interesting insights and unbelievable stories. Some of the topics we covered include:

    1. Systematic trading and Artificial Intelligence
    2. Samuel’s entrepreneurial experiences and lessons learned over 22 years
    3. How he thinks about risk reduction
    4. His businesses and how he got into money markets
    5. Leaders he looks up to and book recommendations.



Episode 3:
Boris Schlossberg | Managing Director of FX Strategy for BK Asset Management and Co-Founder of BKForex.com

Boris Schlossberg is the Managing Director of FX Strategy for BK Asset Management and Co-Founder of BKForex.com. Boris is also the Author of Millionaire Traders and Beginner Technical Analysis of the Currency Market.

Boris is a leading foreign exchange expert with more than three decades of experience in the financial market. In this episode we covered:

    1. His background
    2. Trading and investing, value investing
    3. COVID-19 & Market corrections
    4. Australia finances, income and assets & much more


Episode 2:
Dr Harry Stanton | Clinical Psychologist

Dr Harry Stanton is a clinical psychologist and author of over 9 books and 250+ articles.

With a focus on psychology in trading, Harry gives a different perspective on trading commentary that is unique to the industry.

Some of the topics we covered include:

    1. Growing up in Tasmania
    2. Psychology and how he got started
    3. Psychology in trading


Episode 1:
Haim Bodek | HFT Leader & SEC Whistleblower

Haim Bodek is a famed HFT leader & SEC Whistleblower who’s worked at organisations such as Hull, Goldman and UBS. Haim has also created his own businesses in Trading Machines, Hyperion Decimus and Decimus Capital to the market in the last decade.

In this episode we covered:

  1. His background
  2. The Whistleblower case
  3. Order types
  4. Crypto and regulation
  5. High-frequency trading

Episode 11:
Mark Austin | Co-Founder of Magnetic Trading

Mark Austin (LinkedIn) is the Co-Founder of Magnetic Trading, a trading coaching and services business. With experience across prime institutions such as The Royal Bank of Canada and EFG, Mark’s unique insights have helped many discover what it takes to trade with a principled approach.

In this episode we covered:

  1. Life in Thailand
  2. How he got into trading
  3. Magnetic Trading
  4. Technical vs. fundamental
  5. Publishing results with transparency; and
  6. Trading principles & mindset


Episode 10:
Chris Tate | Co-Founder of Trading Game

Chris Tate is an Author, Trading Mentor, Co-Founder of (Trading Game), and Founder of Talking Trading. With a penchant for applying the scientific method to most elements of life, Chris (along with his co-founder Louise) is one of the longest standing mentors in the trading business – weathering all the fads that have passed through the industry.

And don’t forget to pick up your free trading plan template from Chris’s website – tradinggame.com.au. It will help you trade like a professional, and give you the focus you need to excel in the markets.

In this episode we covered:

  1. Averages, statistics & people
  2. Technical analysis, simplicity & complexity
  3. Delaying gratification & FOMO
  4. How he got into trading
  5. Working with Louise Bedford; and
  6. Managing downsides


Episode 9:
Louise Bedford | Co-Founder of Talking Trading

Louise Bedford is an Author, Trading Mentor, Co-Founder of (Trading Game), and Founder of Talking Trading. With a penchant for psychology and mindset, Louise is one of the longest standing mentors in the trading business – weathering all the fads that have passed through the industry.

In this episode we covered:

  1. What Talking Trading and Trading Game are
  2. Deprogramming yourself and Imposter Syndrome
  3. Dealing with people’s presumptions
  4. How she began teaching
  5. Positive mindset and dealing with negativity


Episode 8:
Chris Gore | CEO of Bi Exchanges

Chris Gore (LinkedIn) is Swan Mining Fx’ CEO, Company Secretary and Responsible Manager for their AFSL licence. He’s a long-serving staff member at Swan Mining Fx and an industry veteran in the Forex operations and commentary business, with at least 10 years’ experience.

Chris is most known for showing a level-headed approach to a market that often opts for scuttlebutt and hearsay.

This is a fascinating episode recorded earlier in the year, where we covered:

  1. Distribution & intervention bill
  2. Applying new laws, Consumer risk, leverage
  3. Swan Mining Fx update and future
  4. Recent AU election, market movement
  5. Current state of economy
  6. Global state of affairs


Episode 7:
Vee Leung Phan | Founder of Track Record Asia

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

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.

In this follow-up episode from Season 1, we covered:

  1. TrackRecord Asia Philosophy & Risk management
  2. His approach to trading
  3. Global state of affairs
  4. Hong Kong protests & China


Episode 6:
Martin North | Principal of Digital Finance Analytics

Martin North is the Principal of Digital Finance Analytics, a boutique research, analysis and consulting firm. This former consultant of Booz Allen & Fujitsu Australia pedigree is well known for his level-headed approach to financial markets & the economy.

His Walk The World channel on YouTube is a must for astute economy watchers in Australia. While his commentary is highly regarded across mainstream media such as the AFR, Sydney Morning Herald, the ABC, 9News and many more.

In this episode we covered:

  1. Growing up in UK & early memories
  2. His career path and insight, corporate consulting
  3. The state of Australia’s economy, housing sector
  4. Productive vs. non-value adding investments
  5. His first 90 days as Prime Minister; and
  6. His take on crypto.


Episode 5:
Craig Cobb | Managing Director of Trader Cobb

Holding over 11 years of experience as both a trader and educator, Craig has always been the type to distil noise into digestible information.

He is one of the most original & astute Australian commentators from the early days of the industry and with that comes a wealth of market experience.

Well known for his institutional background, Craig has helped many in the crypto space navigate this fascinating new world with a framework that can be applied to all asset classes.

In this episode we covered:

  1. Chronic fatigue syndrome
  2. How he got into trading
  3. Successes and failures
  4. The state of crypto; and
  5. Cobb’s trading principles

Episode 4:
Daryl Guppy | Founder of GuppyTraders.com

Daryl Guppy is the founder of GuppyTraders.com, Commentator for CNBC Asia, Author of multiple books on trading including Share Trading, Bear Trading and Trading Asian Shares.

He is one of the most original & astute Australian commentators from the early days of the industry and with that comes a wealth of market experience.

In this episode we covered:

  1. China and his experience
  2. How he got into financial markets
  3. Technical charting, Fundamental analysis
  4. How Guppytraders.com started; and
  5. Perception of China & the Trade Wars.


Episode 3:
Rupert Hackett | Co-Founder and Advisor at Caleb & Brown

Rupert Hackett is the Co-Founder and Advisor at Caleb & Brown, while also a Director at ADCA (Australia Digital Commerce Association)

Caleb & Brown is Australia’s first cryptocurrency brokerage, and Rupert is undoubtedly one of the best minds when it comes to local industry governance in Australia.

This was a great chat on the developments in the world of cryptocurrency on the client side on the business.

In this episode we covered:

  1. OTC, Caleb & Brown
  2. Crypto, consulting, and risk
  3. How exchanges and settlements work
  4. Client demographics and acquisition; and
  5. The global crypto market & analytics.


Episode 2:
Damien Loh | Chief Investment Officer of Ensemble Capital

Damien Loh is the Chief Investment Officer of Ensemble Capital, and former Executive Director at J.P. Morgan Singapore.

Ensemble Capital is a fund manager focused on global absolute returns, through an AI & human investing approach in Singapore.

Damien is a super fascinating guy with a long career ahead of him in this new world of AI-driven investments.

In this episode we covered:

  1. Insight from his time at J.P. Morgan
  2. How he got into finance and trading
  3. Ensemble Capital, the AI system
  4. Investment time frames
  5. How they approach risk


Episode 1:
Alex Saunders | Founder of Nuggets News

Alex Saunders who is affectionately known as “Nugget”, is one of Australia’s foremost market commentators and educators in the digital asset space.

The Founder of popular media and education in Nuggets News, Alex’s passion for crypto was born from a frustration of traditional financial markets that many first adopters feel in this space.

His education has allowed many traders to steer clear of scams in the industry, focusing instead on developing a framework and community that centres on high-value projects.

In this episode we covered:

  1. What Alex loves about Tasmania
  2. Pharmacy over dentistry
  3. How he got into crypto
  4. Banking and financial services
  5. The current and future state of crypto
  6. His approach to value-investing

Episode 10:
Chris Gore | CEO of Swan Mining Fx

Chris Gore (Linkedin) is the CEO of Swan Mining Fx, Company Secretary and Responsible Manager for their AFSL licence. He’s a long-serving staff member at Swan Mining Fx and an industry veteran in the OTC Derivatives market and commentary business, with over a decade of experience.

Chris is most known for showing a level-headed approach in an often unsettled industry.

This is a fascinating episode where we cover:

  1. Favourite podcasts
  2. What’s to come in Forex & how the industry has changed
  3. The future of Swan Mining Fx
  4. The state of the global economy
  5. Looking back at the 2016 U.S. Election


Episode 9:
Quinn Perrott | Co-Founder & General Manager of TRAction Fintech

Quinn Perrott (Linkedin) is the Co-Founder & General Manager of TRAction Fintech, a regulatory technology business. Quinn has been a long time operator in the Retail Forex space, whether it’s running leading businesses like City Index and AxiTrader, or deciding to create a business in the niche space of regulatory technology.

He has a unique perspective as a long time operator, with his knowledge helping average traders to understand the market and industry participants to better understand their business.

This episode covers:

  1. Living in Cyprus
  2. Quinn’s path to Forex
  3. Starting TRAction Fintech
  4. What Quinn misses about the FX/CFD businesses
  5. New regulation from GFC
  6. How blockchain tech can impact reporting


Episode 8:
Adam Taylor | Head of Swan Mining Fx London

Adam Taylor (Linkedin) is a Director of Swan Mining Fx London. Adam has a brilliant ability to see patterns, whether it’s playing Chess, or using Point & Figure Analysis to better understand the sentiment in the market.

This chat was a great insight into what makes a Swan Mining Fx London Director tick, plus how things are looking within the UK.

This episode covers numerous topics, including:

  1. The game of Chess
  2. Moving from Scotland to Australia
  3. His progression within Swan Mining Fx
  4. The UK market, Brexit
  5. Risk management
  6. Fundamental & technical analysis


Episode 7:
Sophie Gerber | Founder of Sophie Grace and Co-Founder of TRAction Fintech

Sophie Gerber (Linkedin) 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 episode covers numerous topics, including:

  1. Starting Sophie Grace
  2. Common mistakes with new financial businesses
  3. The Royal Commission
  4. How the industry could change for the better
  5. Her role at TRAction FinTech


Episode 6:
Karen Wong | Chapter Secretary of the Australian Technical Analysts Association

Karen Wong (Linkedin) 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 primarily across equity markets. 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 edition uncovers the perspective of private traders:

  1. Her background and how she got into trading
  2. Her trading principles, methods, and indicators
  3. Fundamental and technical analysis
  4. How to utilise technical analysis and its key principles


Episode 5:
Andrea Marani | CEO of OpenMarkets

Andrea Marani (Linkedin) 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 Global Trader. OpenMarkets is a Digital Trading Platform that provides clients with direct access to markets via a range of digital technologies.

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

  1. What he misses about South Africa and why he moved to Australia
  2. Early memories of making wine
  3. Highlights of his career
  4. The impact of technology on financial markets
  5. Open Markets and its focus
  6. New products he’s excited about


Episode 4:
Khim Khor | Executive Director & COO of Bi Exchanges

Khim Khor (Linkedin) is Swan Mining Fx’ COO and Executive Director. He started out as a Sales Manager for the Asia business, when this demographic was just opening up for the CFD/Forex industry. Five years later he stands as COO and is an integral part of the Swan Mining Fx team with a unique and innovative perspective on Asia. As a lifelong student of Economics, Khim has always had a penchant for understanding how markets work.

In this episode we’ll cover:

  1. His time and role at Bi Exchanges
  2. Growing up in Malaysia, and sambals
  3. The Asian market
  4. Trading & gambling in Asia compared to Australia
  5. Asian investor perspective
  6. USA & China trade relations
  7. What sitcom best resembles Swan Mining Fx office


Episode 3:
David Hall | Co-Founder of Tapaas

David Hall (Linkedin) 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:

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


Episode 2:
Tom Williams | Bi Exchanges Head of Trading

Tom Williams (@TomW_) is the Bi Exchanges Head of Trading. He started out as a dealer and 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 Bi Exchanges, literally keeping the show on the road. Old Scouse loves a laugh and a pint and is always affable enough to show you the bright side of life (as Monty Python says).

In this episode we’ll cover:

  1. What brought Tom to Australia and what he misses about the UK
  2. His role as head of trading at Bi Exchanges
  3. The Swiss National Bank Crisis
  4. The GFC and Brexit


Episode 1:
Vee Leung Phan of Track Record Asia

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.

In this episode we’ll cover:

  1. Singapore and Vee’s childhood in Kuala Lumpur
  2. Uni life in Manchester and how he got into trading
  3. Lessons learnt from his mother
  4. Career path and insight into the industry
  5. Vee’s trading training framework
  6. The biggest mistake in the business.

Provide feedback about this episode to enter the 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.