A day in the life: Scott Scrase

My alarm goes off:
I get up at 5 am, I leave the house at 5.35 am and I am usually at work by 6.30 am. I’ll do a handover with the dealing desk in Australia shortly after getting in and then grab some breakfast and a coffee (there’s free cereal and a coffee machine available to us).

I’m responsible for:
Amongst other things, my main focus is on managing the risk from positions given to us by clients who are trading 24 hours a day through our various worldwide offices.

Most proud of:
The breadth of knowledge I have gained from working here. I’ve been dealing for a long time but I’ve not been doing the same thing. Because CMC is keen for you to keep learning and growing, I’ve worked in the back-office, as part of the pricing team, on the FX, equity, futures, crypto and volatility desks which have now culminated in me overseeing a combination of the desks within trading.

Why work in the CMC trading department?
There is a lot of diversification, which means that you cover lots of different products and get exposure to lots of different markets. There are also lots of opportunities to progress in terms of training. At the moment I’m really interested in coding and programming, so they are sending me on courses. The major thing, though, is the closeness of the team you get to work with.

The best part of the job:
I love how the industry has changed completely since I started. Where before you would be processing trades manually, everything is faster, automated and completely different. I really enjoy the coding side of the job and I love how you are constantly learning, changing and adapting to the industry and market.

My typical day:
No two days are the same as the markets and what’s going on in the outside world obviously have a huge impact on how your day is going to turn out. They can also vary depending on whether I’m working an early shift to cover the European markets or a late one to coincide with the US but even when the markets are quiet there’s always analysis that can be done to put any existing or new skills to the test.

After work:
I usually spend time with my family and walk the dog to unwind. I play golf almost every weekend which comes in handy for the annual CMC Golf Day held at The Grove and is a good chance to mix with the other departments even if my golf isn’t up to scratch.