Poor old Simon, probably selected to represent the older generation. Maybe described as the 'safe pair of hands' of the group. But alas, all he touched turned to shit - and because he had been one of few to get fully invested (to his credit), there was a fair bit of shit flying about. I think if he had fought his corner with Lex, then he would have been given another opportunity, but you could see that he was in essence a broken man. He had tried - I was impressed with the way he decided to take it upon himself to lead the early morning meetings, but it was clear his mind wasn't in the right place. Simon's downfall shows what can happens when confidence erodes.
Cleo, on the other hand was also given the opportunity to fight her corner with Lex. In the two weeks they have been trading Cleo had invested less than 20% of her allocation. She would sit at her desk reaching for, and then retracting, the phone and then looking at the screen and saying under her breath 'go on just trade', one a her desk a post-it note with the words 'Don't be a girl'. When confronted with Van Dam (who lets face it, isn't the scariest bloke you'll ever meet) she defended her corner with so much passion and vigour that he decided to let her stay! Cleo, if you put as much passion into your trading as you did into defending yourself, you'd be top of the pile.
I certainly warmed to, Emile. The scouse fight promoter who has built a portfolio based on going Long the stocks 'he likes' and shorting the stocks 'he doesn't' like. I'm not sure how that can deliver a nicely hedged portfolio, but it certainly demonstrates the value in understanding what you are investing in. He also displays a lack of emotion when getting into positions (Is this because its not his money at risk?) and seemed calm and thoughtful whilst the group were analysing the Russian invasion of Georgia.
The dark horse of the race was the quiet female Entrepreneur, so quiet in fact, that I have forgotten her name! She was however clearly 'in the right place' to trade. Her approach was considered and calm. She clearly understands what a balanced portfolio should look like and she was prepared to accept that it can take time for positions to work out.
What this episode certainly demonstrated is that a traders real battle is in their mind and the fear is a much greater negative emotion than greed. Mind you none of them have made enough money to be concerned about greed yet.
