How Good Are You?

Surprising that I am in business school.

You Are 84% Good

You are not only a good person... you are a model citizen and a natural leader. Whether you know it or not, your high moral standards and good judgment is truly rare. You don't take ethical short cuts in life. You are able to do what's right - even when it's very difficult. And while it may seem like no one else is as on track as you are, take heart in knowing that you set a good example for others. You are also probably: Very sensitive and in tune with the world Right now you are on track to being: A saint To be a better person: Gently mentor someone who is taking the wrong path in life

How Good Are You?

My Career Fair & Private Banking Workshop Adventure

Career Fair
Since I've decided to revert back to how I was when I lived in New Orleans, I've been a lot happier with life. I'd have to say that 50% of my happiness has come from my rediscovered freedom, and the other 50% from something else.

Last Wednesday I woke up extra early to pick up my renewed NIE as I was traveling to London that weekend and wanted to make sure I'd be allowed entrance back into Spain. I was surprised at the ease it took to get things done in the usual horribly tangled web of Spanish bureaucracy. I actually was smiling the whole time. So I got my card and had a nice leisurely Catalan breakfast at a cafe nearby before taking the metro back to IESE.

See, Wednesday was also the last day of the IESE Career Fair. I got an email from the Healthcare Club telling us to please visit the Medtronic presentation. Since my good friend Xavi works there, I was going to visit regardless. Was a nice presentation.

After that, met my old flatmate Felix for lunch as he was visiting from his semester abroad at London Business School. After 5 minutes, we decide to go for Santander cocktails. I had no intention of talking to Santander bankers, I was just there to meet people naturally, no networking intention. I ended up hanging out with some first year Americans, who were very pleasant to talk to. Zach and Jeffery and I ended up taking beers out to the patio to enjoy the sunny Spanish afternoon. Soon it was time for them to go to the open career fair, and I had a group meeting for ADVIN. I guess I was too much in the New Orleans spirit, as I did not realize until Zach told me that I was still carrying my beer into the business building.

That night I had a nice dinner and movie with Damiaan which turned out to be a lot of fun. Fun I've never had since college. Wednesday was an unbelievably good day.

Private Banking Workshop
Friday was a little adventure, as I always have airport adventures in Europe. I went out to La Prat airport to fly to London, only to find out that my flight didn't exist, and I had bought the wrong ticket. Hijoeputa! Surely any flight I would take to London would make me late to the Private Banking workshop. I could not exchange my ticket, so I had to pay top dollar for a first class seat to Heathrow and would be late to the meeting. The old me would have gone into a tailspin. But the "free" me just smiled, because I'd be riding first class, and this was a sunk cost anyway, no sense in crying over spilled milk. As for being late, I was sure with my personality I'd get out of embarrassment and shame instantly with a smile... In the big scheme of things, it's not really a big deal.

So my flight was so very pleasant. Excellent service. Nice French guy sitting beside me. Many Bombay Sapphire gin & tonics to keep me happy. Delicious chicken & couscous salad. When I got off the plane, I was all smiles. Met a nice Canadian pilot who showed me the way to the Heathrow Express and to the Jubilee Line to Canary Wharf. Then I was off to Credit Suisse. On the way there, a British policeman complimented me on my accent. It was a great day.

When I entered the meeting, it was like a Boiler Room. My smile may have gotten me through the door, but it was like a roomful of sharks in there. I spent some time observing the personalities of the people, who were the alphas, who were the idiots, and who were the kind souls. I saw alot of the fake banker types. I knew how to play that. So once I figured out what was going on, I tried to interject in the meeting with some thoughts on customer relationships and services. I might have been late, but relationhips are definitely my strength. Don't mess with me when it comes to relationships people. I am the guru.

After the meetings, we had a wrapup and a networking session. I knew through all the ones I've been through before that pushing your business card and sucking up to the MDs really doesn't put you far ahead of everyone else. It just looks like you are desperate. And I understand that there is a certain game you must play, and that these are desperate times, but I believe that real relationships don't start with a fake face and a business card. It starts with a genuine connection, and good manners.

So I ended up talking to a shy looking guy standing by himself. I complimented him on his cufflinks. He was wearing pink & green striped ones with a black striped shirt. It turned out that he was a Private Banker. And I got a lot of personal face time in with him and learned alot about private banking. When I told him why I thought private banking was right for me, in my own words as I didn't have time to make "my story", he told me that I was perfect for it. And that I was looking for a career in precisely the right way. It was very affirming.

After the workshop, met Bala for dinner at this Indian restaurant. I loooooved Indian food. And later we met a couple of fun Australians. The girl was 20, and it was like looking back in time to when I was 20. She was charming and fun. It's simply amazing the different types of people you meet, walking through life, if you take the time to stop and smell the roses.

Best Superhero Ever

Financial Times Guy...

My Trading Diary

"You spill that drink I'll rip your eyes out."
--A very wise trader

Apparently ripping things off is a common trader theme. (That sounded more innocent in my head). I once had a trader boss who used to say "You trade the Yen instead of the Euro again I'll rip your face off." (Didn't say that to me though.)

I don't know. I love the atmosphere in Professor Simon's ADVIN and ALTIN classes. People say it's intense. I find it thrilling.

When I traded currency, we were not allowed to trade without a trading plan, or a stop loss, or without carrying out a specific daily routine (record the fundamentals, identify support & resistance, check the short & long term charts, watch for economic indicators). Here, in Professor Simon's class, he gives us free reign to trade however we wish, but this time, it's through a simulated trading program.

However, he recommends we keep a trading diary. I'm going to go the daring route and actually reveal my trading diary here: all the victories, all the embarrassments, a documentary of real time greed and fear.. all on the backdrop of a financial crisis.

I started trading a bit late, and I have to admit, a bit randomly. I saw the other traders in the class with all their positions, and I felt the need to keep up, psychologically. I saw oil prices falling and oil companies slammed, so I decided to short a few oilfield services stocks, which tend to lag oil companies a bit. Also, I had been deciding on a Relative Value play on oilfield services stocks for ALTIN, shorting one and simultaneously going long one I thought would outperform the other... so I decided to test my theory for momentum in the ADVIN portfolio.

On Wednesday, I shorted SLB at $63.11 and WFT at $16.71. Then I went long one of the oil companies I knew had good fundamentals, HES, at $63. These were stupid decisions. I had no exit strategy. I also shorted MS hoping to bet against stability of their deal with Mitsubishi.

On Thursday, I started to take the game more seriously. Looking at the news and market movements, I went long on RIMM (the makers of BlackBerry) via their analyst upgrade and expected release of new product. Additionally, since gold was shooting up, I took a long position in a gold stock, AUY, which intially made me money, but ended up being a small loser. Seeing as gold prices weren't behaving normally, I decided to cut my losses on that stock. Sold more of MS on news of Moody's downgrade and class action lawsuit. A little bit of stupidity: HES was losing me tons of money, so I tried to get out at a limit price, hoping the stock will bounce and I'd get off with fewer losses, but the stock never did bounce and my losses continued to surmount. I thought it wise to get out now and admit defeat, but the trading program wouldn't let me out of the stock since I already had a limit order in that was not fulfilled and I didn't know how to cancel it. So I sold HES short. Well...

Thursday night I took profits in RIMM because I didn't feel the market would support it going any higher. The European markets were all down, as were the US markets. Economic data was grim, and bond spreads were increasing. The TED spread was at it's all time high of 432 bps. I looked at SP futures and the VIX index, a measure of volatility, and it was up an outstanding 11% to around 63 that night. So I decided to make a big play, just for fun. I shorted the sh*t out of SP Depository Notes (we are only allowed to trade securities on US stock exchanges). This, I admit, is a risky, leveraged play. I would never do this in real life. But I guess I just wanted a little drama. Don't ever try this at work (but you can try it at home, if you want to lose alot of your own money).

The mistake I made was putting in the order after market close, so Friday, when my position was openned, there had been a HUGE gap in overnight trading that my order was executed at a very low price. And I was short. The notes immediately dipped, then shot up to past 90, pulling me to almost the bottom of the trader list. During US lunch hour, I panicked, watching the market go up and down, little by little, the SPY testing 85, then back up to 86, and good god, up to 88. I took some time off to read a case and when I came back, it was at 84 and pulling down. I had made tons of (fake) money! I would have gotten out of the position there, but there was a rule that we cannot enter and exit a trade on the same day, so since my order was executed this morning, I couldn't get out of it today. I looked at the candlesticks on the short term chart and relaxed. I was confident SPY would pull down again in the coming days if I don't get out now.

The focus of my day

So I decided to close out most of my positions for the weekend to reassess the bahavior of the markets again next week. I took profits on SLB, MS, and WFT. I could not trade HES, because I had made that short sell this morning (so now I have a short and a long) but the good news is, I figured out how to cancel that good-til-canceled order, so I can just exit my position at a (hedged) loss on Monday.

My First Week of Second Year

They say that whenever we get stuck in a rut or when we're off on the wrong path completely, the universe will using various signs to point this out to you. Lately, everything has been falling into place nicely, and I feel more at peace with myself. On the first day of class, my Corporate Communications professor cold called me to prepare a speech the next day on something I was passionate about. You can probably guess that I gave one on Barack Obama. It gave me confidence, and my life a little more meaning.

I also started getting involved with the Democrats Abroad of Barcelona, going to campaign cocktail & voter registration get-togethers, debate screenings, and many more to come on the campaign trail. This is something I did not get to do last year, and this fulfilled a need of mine for transcendental motivation.

And in Alternative Investments, I volunteered to act as hedge fund manager in searching for investment positions in a practice hedge fund. This required that I actually take a leadership role for once, and manage people & investments. I never thought of myself as a leader, it always felt awkward to me to be the one in charge of decisions, but this time, I felt secure. I guess when it's right, it feels right.

Sometimes though, it is hard to know when something or someone is right for you. But usually you can tell when it's wrong. And it's only when you know yourself - not only what your strengths and weaknesses are but also how you learn, how you work with others, what your values are, and where you can make the greatest contribution - that you learn to reject the things that are wrong for you and hope that what is right is waiting for you, somewhere out there...