Amplify University Training

A practical experience in:
APPLIED GLOBAL
MACROECONOMICS,
INVESTMENT BANK
TRADING & ASSET
MANAGEMENT IN
PRACTICE
A practical
experience at
the forefront
of financial
markets
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN THEORY
AND PRACTICE
Amplify Trading would like to offer students who may be
interested in a financial career, an invaluable practical
experience relevant to today’s financial industry.
Amplify Trading’s world renowned financial market
training simulations are used each year by corporations
such as HSBC, Citibank, Barclays, Credit Suisse,
Bank of America and Deutsche Bank for the training of
their new graduate employees. These institutions all
recognise the gap that exists between financial market
theory and practice, and the ability of our technology to
help students bridge that gap.
As students engage with contemporary financial markets
from the reference point of an asset manager, investment
bank sales trader and a hedge fund they gain a practical
understanding of how the financial industry works today.
Students also get to find out to what career they may be

best suited within the industry, as they receive full
performance reports as they progress through each role
and an industry recognised certification on completion.
Students will:
• Apply a macroeconomic understanding to trade across

international financial markets in response to breaking
financial news and analysis
• Operate as a market maker and sales trader to

experience both the buy side and the sell side of the
industry using our flow trading systems utilised by all
our investment bank clients
• Allocate assets effectively during a portfolio

management simulation with the objective of beating
the benchmark performance
• Experience first hand the implications of behavioural

finance and the gap between financial theory and
practice
RETRADER IN ACTION, LONDON 2016
DAY ONE
09:00 – 13:00
CLARITY ON TODAY’S
FUNDAMENTAL
DRIVERS
UNDERSTANDING GLOBAL INDICATORS

Review: Global growth | Political volatility | Commodity & USD trends
Review: Equities | Commodities | FX | Fixed Income
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
RETRADER 1: Candidates ReTrade the main political events of 2016
and 2017 to date.
SPOTLIGHT ON FED AND ECB DIVERGENCE
US growth momentum | US and EU inflation outlook
Eurozone growth momentum | ECB QE | Political risk | Fed outlook
RETRADER 2: Candidates trade ECB and FED decisions and discuss
merits and impact of each central bank’s strategy.
SPOTLIGHT ON ECONOMIC DATA
Understanding the impact of news | How to source information
Managing risk in a data driven environment
RETRADER 3: Candidates trade across assets through the most
significant recent economic data.
DAY ONE 13:00 – 17:00
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
• Review: Economic Cycle, Asset Class Correlation.
• Review: Portfolio Construction, Geographical allocation,
Client Profiles and Associated Risk Constraints.
RISK MANAGEMENT
• Risk management protocols for simulation.
• Performance Measurements: Relative Return, Absolute
Return and the behavioural impact on performance.
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT SIMULATION 1

• Students log into the PMTRADER platform on any Mac or
PC and form teams of 2.
• Teams analyse macro economic analysis hand outs, and
begin to design their asset allocation for their $20mn global
multi asset fund.
• Twelve months of real market movement then begins in 3
month increments, with each period of movement taking 15
minutes in the simulation. The platform delivers breaking
news items as they occurred in that year, and delegates are
able to actively trade whilst markets are moving to adjust
their portfolios in reaction to the news development.
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT SIMULATION 2

• Teams analyse macro economic analysis hand outs, and
begin to design their asset allocation for their $20mn global
long equity only fund.
• Another 12 month period of real data unfolds and students
experience managing assets from the reference point of a
long only equity fund.
SESSION REVIEW
• Review and key learning outcomes following the two
simulations.
• Performance results: Relative Return vs Benchmark,
Absolute return and relative Peer group leader board.
DAY TWO
INVESTMENT BANK TRADING
UNDERSTANDING INVESTMENT BANKS
09:00
• Review: Roles and objectives of an Investment Bank
• Review: Quote driven versus order driven markets
• Review: Investment bank client relationships
PLATFORM INTRODUCTION
10:30
• Students trial the FLOWTRADER platform in
different roles before the simulation begins.
• Methods of assessment during the simulation are
explained to the students.
INVESTMENT BANK TRADING SESSION 1

11:00
• Students understand, through experience, how
different assets are traded at an investment bank, and
the information path necessary to facilitate clients
trades.
• Students are split into 2 groups. On one side, students
work as a pair in sales trading and trading roles for the
investment bank; the other group operate as hedge
fund clients.
• The way a student can trade will depend on the
underlying structure of the instrument traded. For
example, less liquid rates products will be tradeable
over-the-counter only between the buy side and sell
side.
• As candidates work together to make markets and
unwind risk on the exchange, or through a natural-
cross, the platform generates an electric atmosphere
of competition and concentration.
INVESTMENT BANK TRADING SESSION 2

14:00
• Students swap roles so those who had operated as
the investment bank now become the hedge fund
clients, and the hedge fund clients work as the
investment bank.
16:30
TRADING REVIEW
• Each student will receive a detailed report of their
performance in each role which can be used to
further their career in finance.
DAY THREE
LIVE MARKET TRADING
UNDERSTANDING TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

09:00
• Trends, support and resistance
• Momentum indicators and reversal patterns
AN INTRODUCTION TO TRADING PSYCHOLOGY

10:00
• Behavioural finance in 2017
• Prospect theory and investor irrationality
• Managing your trading mindset
LIVE MARKET TRADING

13:00
• Students use our LIVETRADER platform to
trade the cash open of U.S. markets and
manage their own trading desk, using news
feeds from Bloomberg and Reuters.
• Connected in real-time to Amplify’s trading

floor in London, students will be prepared for
economic data as they take positions across
multiple asset classes, applying the financial
market theory learned into the real world.
• This invaluable trading experience will

incorporate technical analysis, fundamental
analysis and behavioural finance.
TRADING REVIEW
16:30
• Each student will receive a detailed report of
their trading performance which can be used as
an asset for their CV and future career in
finance.
Combining direct investment banking
experience with asset management practice,
will give any student an unparalleled
competitive advantage in the financial
industry
Piers Curran – Head of Trading

TESTIMONIALS
DAVIDE KOTLAR: JPMORGAN
I would like to thank you for the amazing experience I had
this summer. I had the opportunity to interview with
many institutions (Nomura, Goldman Sachs, Barclays,
HSBC, ICAP) and I finally received two offers from
JPMorgan and Credit Suisse both in Sales & Trading
for the 2016 Summer Internship in London.
I accepted JPMorgan and Amplify has been a huge selling-point! You

cannot imagine how many times the interviewers were delighted to
talk about this experience.
SHARON AGRAWAL: GOLDMAN SACHS

The Amplify experience on my CV has actually been
crucial in both getting interviews and also helping me
perform well in them; all the employers seem very
pleased with a candidate with actual market-facing
trading experience.
I managed to secure a summer internship with the Strats (Quant)
group at Goldman Sachs and they mentioned the Amplify experience
as pivotal in the decision of awarding me the internship.
“Goldman Sachs mentioned the Amplify experience as

pivotal in the decision in awarding me the internship.”
“Truly a highlight of training. The facilitators were incredibly prepared

and the interface advanced. This was simply the best and most
important part of training.”
Kellie Burke, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

VP, Global Markets Learning
ABOUT US
Founded in London in 2009 by Piers Curran and Will de Lucy, Amplify has built a
team of traders to execute short-term macroeconomic strategies in the post-crisis
era of global market volatility.
Placing the highest value on the development of its traders, Amplify has created a
ground breaking approach to capital markets training, now integral to many of the
world’s largest financial institutions.
As participants progress through this unique practical programme, performance at

each stage is recorded and reviewed to give candidates a full insight into how well
they are suited to different financial roles.
In 2015 Amplify was awarded The CFA Institute global prize

for innovation in financial education
Creating the
next market
leaders

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What does the program aim to offer students?

What does the program aim to offer students?

What will students experience and learn during the program?

What will students experience and learn during the program?

A practical experience in:

Students also get to find out to what career they may be

• Apply a macroeconomic understanding to trade across

• Operate as a market maker and sales trader to

• Allocate assets effectively during a portfolio

• Experience first hand the implications of behavioural

UNDERSTANDING GLOBAL INDICATORS

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT SIMULATION 1

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT SIMULATION 2

INVESTMENT BANK TRADING SESSION 1

INVESTMENT BANK TRADING SESSION 2

UNDERSTANDING TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

AN INTRODUCTION TO TRADING PSYCHOLOGY

LIVE MARKET TRADING

• Connected in real-time to Amplify’s trading

• This invaluable trading experience will

Piers Curran – Head of Trading

I accepted JPMorgan and Amplify has been a huge selling-point! You

SHARON AGRAWAL: GOLDMAN SACHS

“Goldman Sachs mentioned the Amplify experience as

“Truly a highlight of training. The facilitators were incredibly prepared

Kellie Burke, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

As participants progress through this unique practical programme, performance at

In 2015 Amplify was awarded The CFA Institute global prize

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