In the world of sports and trading, trust, success and belief hold great resonance. With over 25 years of experience in financial markets, Tony, an IG Analyst, engages in a conversation with Simon Goodwin, the coach of Melbourne Demons, to draw parallels between achieving high performance in AFL football and excelling in trading financial markets.

Tony was at Goldman Sachs proprietary trading room for ten years and learned that having a plan is important when trading. This means knowing when to buy and sell so you can control what happens.

Simon, who also believes in having a plan and learning from your mistakes to become better at trading, lets us in on the skills he has picked up from his career and life that helped him with trading.

Join Tony and Simon as they chat about Simon's career at Melbourne, how he's changed his approach and mindset over time, and how this can benefit IG clients.

Questionnaire

• In 2020 Melbourne won 54% of their games but then in 2021, things totally turned around and they won a whopping 80% of their matches. What changed for you and Melbourne during that time?

• How do you keep your team from getting distracted and focused on reaching the top of the hill when the season starts and you're at the bottom of the hill?

• You had quite a severe quad injury which kept you out of the game for months. How did you switch your focus to recover from that injury and deal with the mental aspect of being away from the field for an extended period of time?

• How have you adapted your mindset and approach throughout your career at Melbourne to cope with the highs and lows?

• What inspired you to start trading and how did you begin trading with IG?

• Can I ask you what markets you find most interesting?

• I think it’s important that traders are comfortable with the markets in which they're actually trading. How do you look to exploit trading opportunities in the market?

• You've been a client now with IG for almost a decade. Can I ask you initially what drew you to IG? What were the reasons behind you opening an account?

• Do you ever check out charts or technicals or anything like that, for example, we just mentioned earnings season. Do you try and stay clear of those time zones? And do you trade any of those big US companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon?

• I mean, things like trust, success, and belief are important in both sports and trading, right? During your time playing AFL, what skills do you think you've gained that have helped you with trading?

• If you have a plan and stick to it, you can avoid emotional rollercoasters. It's like knowing what you'll get from a trade. But how do you tell the good players from the really, really good ones?

• This question has a real interest for me individually because I love learning about how hard it is to win consecutive championships. So, what's the secret to winning back-to-back titles in any sport? And what are the biggest challenges?

• We all know the saying "winning is a habit," but what about when you're stuck in a rut for a couple of games or even a couple of months? How do you turn things around and get your players back on track?

• Personally, how did you deal with that disappointment?

Introduction

Reading time: 20 minutes

Trading level: Beginner

HIGH PERFORMANCE • POSITIVITY • BELIEF