Mike Agne Interview - Chat With Traders Episode 136

How are you doing folks? It’s Aaron Fifield here. I’m very excited to share today’s episode with you. Before we get to that, I have some news I’m pretty excited to share with you.

I’ve released a range of Chat With Traders merchandise. You can check it our over at www.chatwithtraders.com/shop. I currently have five designs on t-shirts and sweatshirts in a wide variety of colors. I worked with an amazing designer who previously designed items for popular bands such as Fall Out Boy, Goldfinger and Silverstein.

So please feel free to stop by the shop and help support this podcast.

Alright, now onto my guest for today, Mike Ange. I’m sure there are around 100 listeners who are familiar with who he is because he’s the trader I had on for the live podcast at the Chat With Traders event in NYC back in May.

If you were one of those people, you may experience some deja vu while listening.

For everyone else, Mike started trading around 20 years ago. He started at TransMarket Group, a Chicago prop firm, founded by Ray Cahnman, a legendary trader. Mike was there for a total of 12 years and was one of the firm’s biggest 30 year treasury basis traders (in terms performance and volume).

If you ever read Trader Monthly magazine, Mike was named one of top 30 traders under 30 back in 2005. Today, Mike trades his own book and building out a track record. He hopes to launch a hedge fund in a few years.

Before we start the interview, I do want to note that Mike is affiliated with DV Trading. Even though he is a trader within the DV Trading group, the views he has here are his own and does not reflect the opinions or views of his firm. Meaning, that he does not represent DV Trading group at all.

With that out of the way, let’s get to today’s interview.

What’s Covered in This Interview:

How Mike went from being a phone clerk to a proprietary trader.
Lessons he’s learned from mentors, growing a capital base and how Ray Cahnman influenced him.
What traders can gain from having skin in the game and how Mike increased his risk tolerance.
Mike’s rule of thumb on how to avoid losing too much money.
An introduction on trading treasury bonds, including major participants, economic influences, barriers to entry and characteristics of various maturity terms.
Mike’s explanation of his relative value strategy and the different relationships he tracks.
Why Mike believes you need to take care of the short term.