The Market Maker: IG's Kevin Algeo talks tech disruption and predictions for 2021

IG’s Head of APAC & Africa, Kevin Algeo, started his career as a stockbroker in the early 2000s, when technology was just starting to creep on to trading floors. Since then, tech advances have changed the world of trading immeasurably, he tells Yahoo Finance’s host of the Market Makers, Anastasia Santoreneos.

“Trading has really been democratised with digital evolution,” says Algeo. “The way people can get their information now is far better, easier and cheaper than it was.” He points out that tech gives individual traders more reach than they would have had previously; people can now trade locally and internationally, as well as across asset classes. “It enables people to have a better choice [of trades] at a lower cost,” he says.

Online trading platforms such as IG have really helped drive this trend, meaning clients get an opportunity to trade with scale and across a range of markets. Despite COVID-19 causing economic shockwaves across the world, Algeo reveals that the demand for online trading is higher than it’s ever been. “This shows that people want to take control of their own finances and make their own decisions in a self-directed way,” he explains.

Algeo’s deep knowledge of the markets means he encourages both first-time and experienced investors to educate themselves before trading. “That means doing trading courses, reading books and talking to other traders about what they do,” he says. “Even for experienced investors, continuous education is so important. It’s an ongoing quest for information.”

He believes that investors who are starting out need to take a long-term view to their strategy. “It’s so important you have sufficient risk management frameworks in place,” he says, adding that thinking ahead for five to ten years, rather than fixating on what your next trade will be, will serve you well. Most importantly, he recommends “sticking to your plan” instead of getting waylaid by new trades or fluctuating markets.

Algeo’s interest in finance stems from his passion for global affairs, and he sees the markets as simply a way of expressing what’s happening in the world through risk and pricing. This means 2021 could see some big changes in the markets. “What was a health crisis has turned in to an economic crisis,” he says. Because governments have had to pump fiscal stimulus into the economy, which has been funded by reserve banks, this means the economic overhang will be significant, he predicts. “Governments have to pay that money back, so expect low interest rates. This will set up the macro trends for the next three to five years.”

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