For this episode I spoke with fund manager, Dario Mofardin.
Dario went from a finance degree, straight into a market analyst and then trader position at a private global macro hedge fund, during the early 90’s. He then went into investment banking for 13 years, working with mergers and acquisitions from various locations around the globe. And since 2008, Dario has been trading independently, but has recently begun trading external funds also.
Some of the key points we chat about during this episode include; seeing the whole board as a global macro trader, how to build a body of evidence, why Dario went from short-term trading to higher timeframes, plus trade management and checklists too.
Lessons learned in this interview:
- Dario discusses how he discovered trading, his introduction to global macro, having a natural intuition early on—and, was a finance degree useful in anyway?
- While reasonably successful, Dario explains how he used to feel as though he was punting at the casino each day, and why this lead him into investment banking.
- Seeing the whole board; Dario shares how he forms a big picture thesis and builds a body of evidence using global macro factors and an array of technical analysis.
- Dario discusses his reasoning for morphing from a short-term trader into a swing and position trader—to focus on the larger money making opportunities.
- The brief history and purpose of Elliott Wave, and how Dario uses this type of charting analysis to create a framework for big picture trends and time entries.
- Key global macro drivers that influence Dario’s market outlook, how he uses intermarket analysis, and why he generally prefers to think like a contrarian.
- Dario speaks about the most important items on his trader checklist, including self analysis before the trading day begins, and how he reviews decisions later on.
“When the herd is running one way, I am more than often trading on the other side.”
Links and resources mentioned:
- Elliott Wave Principal: Key to Market Behavior, by Frost & Pretcher – Dario refers to this book, first published three decades ago, as the “Bible of Elliott Wave.”
- Intermarket Analysis: Profiting from Global Relationships, by John Murphy – For more about intermarket analysis, this is the one book Dario recommends.
- Trade Like a Casino: Find Your Edge, Manage Risk, and Win Like the House, by Richard Wiseman – This book was mentioned when discussing staggered entries.
- MarsCapitalPartners.com – To learn more about Dario, you can visit his website where he frequently shares his market analysis and thoughts on global macro.
- @Trader_Mars – Follow Dario on Twitter, and tweet him about this episode!
How to support this podcast:
- For a quick and easy way to support this free podcast, please write an honest review in iTunes. It’ll take you two minutes, and it helps massively—thank you.