Topics:
- Ethereum Futures
- Physical Delivery of Crypto Futures
- ETH-BTC Futures
- Growth of Crypto Futures
- Bitcoin Halving
Guest:
Ian Grieves
Managing Director, Head of Product at ErisX
Ian’s Resources
Rapid Fire ?
Q. What Trader has influenced your career the most and why?
A. My grandmother sparked my interest in the markets. When i went to her house as a kid she always had a copy of the financial times and would look at the price of her shares. She wasn’t a trader but when probably should have been. My 1st boss at SocGen was very encouraging to get me in the pit, but being on an open outcry exchange from a young age I interacted with a lot of talented traders.
Q. What was one of the hardest things for you to overcome in Trading?
A. Removing the emotion from losses. I would beat myself initially when i was trading on the LIFFE exchange as i thought i was failing when i had to take a loss. At that time i hadn’t really learnt the discipline or risk management techniques to be more systematic. I was an options trader for a few banks and of course you are trying to impress in the early days. By the time I was able to make more of my own decisions I could focus on trading techniques that fit my personality.
Q. How has your trading process evolved over the years?
A. I moved away from trading as a career when Eurex and Liffe went fully electronic in late 99 early 00. I moved into technology and helped software companies understand the trader persona. I had started to code as a hobby while trading, simple stuff like excel based option models. The first software company I was involved in created the first commercially available “auto spreader” for futures. This allowed me to then use their apis to be more systematic in my approach. I trade very little now but when I do I still look at why am i doing this trade and where am i getting out. I love playing around with languages like python to evaluate a strategy. That’s actually what got me into Crypto.
Q. What is one attribute that you believe every trader should have?
A. You have to be comfortable with risk to a degree that you are not risking the house. I think it’s like any sport or hobby. You can push yourself to try more and get more comfortable but you don’t “hike off-piste” before being comfortable with any mian ski slope.
Q. Favorite Book About Trading?
A. I struggle with this question. I guess I am more of a technical book reader. The Markets Wizards series was a go to in the beginning.
Q. What’s the best advice you’ve received about Trading?
A. Have patience, understand you’re always learning and use some money to explore new areas. I.e. Don’t expect to be a great trader overnight. Learn from your mistakes. Why not trade corn? Just make sure you stick to your rules and understand what you are trading first.
Q. If you can give a piece of advice to the younger you, what would it be?
A. As above… haha.
Q. If you had to elevator pitch me your edge in Trading, what would you say?
A. Now being more focused on the technology of trading i don’t think i could pitch you on a trading strategy… Can you tell me where you can trade CFTC regulated Physical delivered ETH Futures?
Q. If you had to pick a profession other than working in financial markets what would it be?
A. A. Originally I had planned on joining the police as both my father and grandfather had been. Now I love baking bread. I’ve been doing it for a few years. In the beginning I thought I wanted to be a purest of sorts and kept trying to make my own sourdough starters. Then I found a few recipes that still focused on the “science” of baking but incorporated yeast. I find the long process of folding, fermentation and cooking very relaxing. I look at it as a systematic process to be consistent. My family loves it when I use the dough for homemade pizza.
Q. Favorite thing to do when not working?
A. Being with my family is number 1 on that list. It’s been very nice working from home during this difficult time of Covid. Next “cheating” i would say traveling back to Europe to see my larger family in the mountains or by the beach. Wish i had more time for Yoga, biking and being in the water..
If you enjoyed this interview with Ian be sure to listen to these other episodes:
Evolving As A Trader — Merritt Black
Less About Fundamentals, More About Risk Management – Mark Dow
