Education/training

21-year-old equities trading star to open new office in Milan

Fountain of youth

SwiftTrade founder and president Peter Beck has found another winner.

P.J. HARSTON
[ 2007-07-17 ]

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P.J. HARSTON

Beck, who founded the nation's leading equity trading firm in 1998 and now with 120 offices in 22 countries, has just sent one of his star traders -- along with his older brother -- to Milan, Italy, to open the next SwiftTrade office.

Gianluca Cedolia is 21, his brother Gilberto, 26.

"He's quite a star -- his brother is good, too, but Gianluca is definitely the star," said Beck in a telephone interview from his native Hungary, where he was vacationing last week.

Toronto's Gianluca is the product of the the SwiftTrade High School Program, which is designed to get young, agile and smart students onto the trading floor at Swift, where they can achieve remarkable feats.


Gianluca, who joined the company two years ago, was consistently turning a profit of more than $30,000 a month, trading equities on the New York and NASDAQ stock exchanges.

"SwiftTrade gave me the chance to experience the real world before thinking about university and I'm excited to help the company grow and expand," he said in a news release. "My parents are proud to see me take my career to their home country and open a new international office at 21 years old, something none of us thought was possible."

Beck, who left communist Hungary for Canada in 1979, says he wasn't all that surprised with Gianluca and Gilberto's success.

"I have found that the younger someone is, the easier it is to learn trading -- they've got faster reflexes, their fingers are more agile and there's less clutter in their head that gets in the way," he said.

Moreover, young adults who are good with the "shoot 'em up" video games tend to be suited for trading that's done by watching multiple windows on a computer screen and using specific keystrokes on the keyboard to make the trade.

A win-win situation for his firm and the young adults he brings on board, Beck says there's nothing stopping them from going on to university or college "after making some money."

For more information on SwiftTrade or its high school program, go to www.swifttrade.com on the Internet.



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