7.00 AM  

My morning routine is pretty quick. I’m out the door and on my bike for my commute to work by about 7.30 am.

7.55 AM 

My first and most important task of the day is to get a coffee. At Barangaroo, we are a bit spoilt for choice with good coffee, but I have a favourite spot and the staff there remember my order which is always a good sign!

8.00 AM 

Coffee in hand I arrive at my desk and start checking the overnight macroeconomic and stock specific news in our markets. To be successful in my role, I maintain an in-depth knowledge of both the broader market and the individual companies in my coverage list. I use the latest technologies to give me up-to-date information from around the globe, whether that means reading the daily WSJ or AFR, catching the breaking news coming across Bloomberg, or attending various conferences and investor days with company management. 

8.30 AM 

I head to our kitchen to get breakfast. Each morning we are provided with a range of options to choose from, fresh fruit and yogurt, avo on toast, eggs, and cereal. Normally I have toast and a banana; today I have a bit of extra time so I make some eggs as well. 

8.45 AM 

Back at my desk I start my morning prep ahead of market open gathering together the overnight news. The goal of all of my preparation is to be able to respond quickly to new and changing information, so that I can recommend trades in real-time. Working effectively with our traders in a rapidly changing environment is essential.

9.30 AM 

I have a daily meeting with the traders. As a Research Analyst, I’m the eyes and ears for what’s happening in the world. I feed what I learn to the traders, and they pair this information with what they are seeing in the marketplace as we work together to identify and take action on potential trading opportunities. I update the team with any impactful events that occurred overnight, or any potential events that may be coming up that day. As an analyst, I try to plan for just about every potential scenario for a given event, and discuss how we could take action with the trader for each given outcome. That way, when the event happens, we are prepared to act quickly and confidently.

10.00 AM 

When the market opens, things can get pretty hectic as we act on any opening trade ideas, and respond to the number of stocks that may be in motion. Throughout the course of the day, I keep an eye on my news feeds to watch for any breaking stories that can affect the markets. I have specific alerts set up to keep me informed of the latest news, often filtered by keywords that I may be looking for, and organised for my list of companies. When I find new information, I analyse what effect it will have on my planned scenarios and update our probabilities to reflect the changing landscape. If I see breaking news that I think could be market-moving, I quickly communicate to our traders so they can be the first to trade on an opportunity. As news breaks throughout the day, we have a telecom system where we can “hoot” to communicate throughout the trade floor. This is especially important in situations where we need to keep multiple traders informed, such as breaking news that impacts an entire sector. This was a little intimidating to me at first, as the hoot plays across the whole trading floor, but it didn’t take long to feel natural. 

12.30 PM 

Lunch time! We get a catered lunch delivered daily at SIG. Often it’s themed, and my favourite lunch is Thai day, which means pineapple fried rice and curry. It’s a popular choice so I make sure I’m there early. Most days I take my lunch back to my desk and eat with my team as I don’t want to miss the lunchtime news. 

1.00 PM 

A lot of the day is spent building a foundation of knowledge that enables us to take action when something changes or new information breaks intra-day. The earlier I can identify a potential catalyst and begin to price in its impact on the market, the better. If we’re quick enough, our traders may be able to take our opinion and work into a position before the market becomes fully aware of the situation, at which point the bulk of the opportunity may slip away. I invest a lot of my time seeking out what the next opportunities may be. To do this, I may read through company filings, take a deep dive into company financial records, speak with experts in the field, attend live events (analyst days and conferences), or subscribe to third party data. Communication and collaboration are key to our success.

For example, I may evaluate the potential for an impactful company contract to be renewed, anticipating how likely a renewal or cancellation may be. I can then build a scenario analysis with a few different outcomes, and our traders can begin to assess the resulting impact on volatility and build a position before the rest of the marketplace catches on. Similar analysis is done for regulatory changes, potential M+A, new product launches, and other types of events throughout the year. Thorough analysis is critical, but decisiveness and speed are equally, if not more, important.

4.15 PM

Market closes and I debrief the day with the traders I work with. One of the things I love about my role here at SIG is that I can directly see the results of my decisions. We track each of our trade opinions and the resulting Profit and Loss so that we can evaluate our decision making, and adjust where things are not working, or potentially become even more aggressive in situations that have been successful. We circle back with other traders and senior analysts weekly to talk about what types of trades are working, and where the best opportunities have been. After the market closes each day, each of our Research Analysts recap the main trade ideas and interesting takeaways from the trading day to send to the rest of the department. We use this shared document to stay up-to-date with developments across the different sectors and learn from each other’s experiences.

5.30 PM

Is home time, in the evenings I like to go to the gym or watch American sports on the TV. I’m a big fan on American football; my team is the New England Patriots. Twice a week I play a friendly (*read competitive) tennis match with my colleagues. There is a group of us that play and we take it in turns to play at courts, either in the northern beaches or Sydney’s eastern suburbs.