Get to know your fellow traders: YTE UK speaks with forex, Dow futures, and S&P 500 futures trader Simon Clarke.

Trading first sparked Simon Clarke’s interest 14 years ago. In 2007, deciding he wanted a career change, Simon started his trading career in earnest by enrolling in a formal training and mentoring programme. Simon now trades forex, Dow futures, and S&P 500 futures full time from his home in Cambridgeshire.

How and when did you first become interested in the markets?
I first became interested in the markets about 14 years ago, after I read an article in a magazine about someone who traded options on a part-time basis, while he ran another business during the day. I liked the idea that you could trade part time; and that your risk was limited to the premium you paid for the option, whilst taking advantage of greater rewards as the trade moved in your favour. From that point I started reading and learning as much as I could about the stock market and options trading.

And then what happened?
I enrolled on a course to learn how to trade options on a fundamental basis, and started to trade part time. My interest in trading progressed over the next few years, and I moved from options to small-cap stocks – and even to spread betting the FTSE 100.
Trading for me was governed by time constraints with family life and my professional career, so it was very much an on/off hobby through those early years...

Excerpted from an article originally published in the Sep/Oct 2011 issue of YourTradingEdge magazine UK. All rights reserved. © Copyright 2011, Your Media Edge Pty Ltd.
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