FOCAL POINT | 7
John Christofilos, Vice-President and Head Trader, AGF Investments Inc. On the trading desk we rarely tell a portfolio manager or an analyst what stock to buy or sell. What we offer are three things: market intelligence; liquidity intelligence; and stock-specific intelligence. When we get an order, we share with the portfolio manager and/or the analyst what we know about that particular name; where we are in a market, where we are with this name, who’s been trading the name. The relationship between the trading desk and the portfolio manager has to be vibrant and in real-time. We have information on our desk that the portfolio manager may not know. We need to share that information with them to ensure they are part of the process. When we have an order of any significant size or importance, we discuss it at the trading desk and with the portfolio managers and analysts. We work together to determine the best way to trade each particular order. For example, we ask ourselves: Is it
on a block basis or do we do it electronically? Are we looking for facilitation capital or can we just work it in the market? Are we going to use the algorithmic tools or are we going to go to the open market? We also look at nine different pre-trade parameters that allow us to make the most intelligent decisions for our portfolio managers, our analysts and ultimately our end clients who entrust us with their money. Managing the sell-side The reality of my job is that we have to make quick decisions. We work in a real-time environment where money is made and lost in seconds. This approach can be unsettling for our partners on the sell-side, but this process works and allows us to trade and execute the most effectively. If you look at our currency, which is our commission dollars, we want to spend every single dollar most efficiently. We want to pay brokers for the value
Q2 • 2016 | GLOBALTRADING