Prime Trading: A $700K Equities Book at 17% ROE
Managed a $700K equity portfolio to a 17% return on equity over ten months, tracking 120+ positions across equities, ETFs, and forex with disciplined, rules-based risk controls.
- Role
- Lead Equities Trader & Analyst
- Organisation
- Prime Trading Australia
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
Over ten months I ran a $700K equity book to a 17% return on equity. That came from position sizing, trend work, and risk rules I could defend to a senior trader, not from one lucky run.
Context
The mandate was active management of a real book across equities, ETFs, and forex. Returns mattered, but so did how they were earned. Every recommendation had to be backed by research and approved before it went on, and risk had to be controlled going in, not after a position moved.
Approach
I produced equity research and investment pitches from trend analysis and portfolio strategy, and delivered them as Excel-based cases that senior traders signed off on. Day to day I tracked 120+ positions to manage exposure and keep returns risk-adjusted, sizing into the ideas I had most conviction in and cutting positions against pre-set rules rather than gut feel.
The 17% mattered less than getting through the months it was built across. Controlling the downside is what let the upside add up.
Result
- 17% ROE on a $700K book over ten months.
- A research-and-approval workflow that kept every position accountable.
- One risk framework applied across 120+ live positions.
What I took from it
Markets give you feedback faster than anything else in finance. A year of being marked-to-market every day taught me more about conviction, sizing, and staying humble than any model could.