Good afternoon, Sam, and welcome to Commodity Conversations. You’ve just published The Physical Trade as a definitive guide to physical commodity trading. When you imagine your ideal reader, who do you have in mind, and what problem are you aiming to solve?
The catalyst for the book was the number of students, graduates, and career changers who asked me how to break into what is still a very opaque industry. Information is hard to come by unless you already work in it.
My target audience is people seeking a broad understanding of physical commodities, whether out of genuine interest or to pursue a career in the industry. I also aim to support those already involved who feel uncomfortable asking “basic” questions internally or lack access to other departments.
The industry is highly nuanced and divided into silos. If you work in operations, you might never have meaningful time with finance or risk teams. I aimed to provide a practical, accessible guide that offers people the context they often lack in their daily roles.
What qualifies you to write this book? Share a bit of your experience.
I graduated in 2008 with a degree in economics and joined Trafigura when it was still relatively young. I began in operations/middle office, working closely with finance, accounting, and risk, and sitting next to the front office. It was a tough but valuable learning experience across the entire trading chain.
After two years in operations, I moved to the hedging desk, where I managed risk across products and geographies. Later, I became a physical trader, running the refined metals book for North and then South America, with exposure to Trafigura’s global book.
After 11 years in physical trading, I transitioned to derivatives at Greenwich Metals, where I established an entire derivatives desk from the ground up: credit lines, broker lines, internal brokerage, and proprietary trading. I have always taught internally; both my parents were teachers, so teaching came naturally.
My first book, Perfectly Hedged, arose from a lack of practical material on risk management. Building on that, I launched Perfectly Hedged, a consultancy and education platform, in November 2023. Over the past two years, I have worked with companies across the commodity complex and seen firsthand how many people possess deep specialist knowledge but lack the broader understanding necessary to truly add value to their desks. In total, I have around 15 years of direct trading experience, plus 2 years working closely with firms on training and risk management.
Do you offer training courses for these companies?
Yes. Everything we do is tailored to the company’s needs. We run in-house courses, have an on-demand online platform, and design programmes on risk, physical trading, and desk-building, as well as ongoing upskilling for staff.
I deliver all the content myself. I have a small team that supports marketing and back‑office functions.
How old are you, and what is your background?
I’m 38 and was born in London, where I lived for 21 years. I then moved to Switzerland with Trafigura for about 18 months before relocating to the US, where I’m still based, in Stamford, Connecticut. Stamford and the surrounding suburbs have become a major centre for commodity trading and hedge funds over the last 20 years.
What do you hope a reader will learn from the book that will make their first five years in commodities different from yours?
When I started, it was very much sink-or-swim; you had to push hard to learn anything beyond your narrow job description. The main thing I want readers to understand is how interconnected every department is in a physical trading house: finance, accounting, risk, business development, ESG, compliance – all of it feeds into the trade.
If you don’t understand each element, it’s difficult to see the complete flow of a physical trade. I want people to begin their careers able to ask second- and third-tier questions, not just “What’s the difference between a container ship and a bulker?” but “Why are we using this vessel – cost, risk, optionality?”
Suppose you were graduating today with no contacts and no family in the business. What should someone do in the next 12 months to secure a role in physical commodities?
Relationships are everything. If you can’t build them, your career will be short. You need the confidence to reach out cold: messages, emails, LinkedIn, asking for a five-minute call or coffee to learn about the business.
Graduate schemes are competitive, attracting tens of thousands of applications. Early in your career, you should be commodity-agnostic: the “best” desk is the one that offers you a chance, whether that’s in metals, oil, ags, or another area.
Cast the net widely and apply across different regions. Be open to back or middle-office roles and offer to shadow desks; request informational interviews.
No one should expect to step straight into a front-office trading role, nor should they want to. You should want to learn from the ground up. It’s a numbers game: apply widely, develop your soft skills and interpersonal skills, and be prepared to add value from day one once you secure a seat.
What are the key skills a commodity recruiter seeks?
Recruiters want everything – but if I had to choose, I’d prioritise social skills. I’ve interviewed top-tier graduates with perfect grades who freeze when faced with messy, real-world scenarios because there isn’t a neat, provable answer.
A trader’s day is full of setbacks. You must think quickly, adapt, and communicate under pressure. Strong numerical skills are important, but being able to have an informed, opinionated discussion about markets and the industry is often more valuable in an interview than solving another equation.
You advise in the book not to fixate on a trading seat on day one. Which early roles – operations, scheduling, middle office, risk, logistics – are the best routes into trading?
From my perspective, a middle-office operations or scheduling role, particularly on the energy side, is ideal. It provides exposure to back-office processes, risk management, and the front office, often working directly alongside traders.
You learn the structure and economics of trades by osmosis and see how logistics and operations directly impact P&L. There is no better way to understand how a physical trade works than to sit in those roles early on.
Imagine you’re in one of those roles. What will make you stand out to your manager as potential trader material?
Ask a lot of questions without becoming annoying. Be a sponge. Don’t just execute tasks; ask why you’re doing them – why that vessel, that pricing date, that counterparty.
Managers and commercial teams notice individuals who seek to understand the trade rather than merely process the paperwork. These are the people who stand out as future traders.
How can you transition from operations to trading?
Much of it relies on seizing opportunities as they arise. There is always an element of luck, timing, and being in the right place – but you must be ready to say yes.
When I was tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to move to the US at 22 , I quickly accepted. Being willing to relocate, take on projects, act as a liaison between desks – essentially volunteering for value-added work beyond your job description – is what gets you noticed.
Digging deeper, why did the head of the trading desk select you rather than the other people in operations?
I’d been open about my commercial aspirations while making it clear I understood it was a long road. Some people push for a trading seat too early, don’t fully understand the business, and then struggle.
Be open about your desire to trade but also demonstrate your commitment to learning—whether that means sitting in on different roles, collaborating with other departments, or even relocating if necessary. Developing strong internal relationships with treasury, finance, accounts, and risk is vital.
When your manager asks those teams, “What’s it like working with Sam?” you want consistently positive feedback. In physical trading, you’re better off being the most likeable person in the room rather than trying to be the smartest; interpersonal relationships drive a significant part of the business.
Was there one experience that shifted your perspective on risk and markets?
Yes. Early in my trading career, we realised we were dealing with a fake bill of lading, which I describe in the book. It was only a few months into my trading role, and it highlighted how one document error could cascade through the entire physical and derivatives chain.
Because we didn’t have proper title, we shouldn’t have priced the contract, which exposed us to our end customer and to price risk. It reinforced that “attention to detail” is not a throwaway CV line; in physical trading, you really do need to dot every i and cross every t and be proactive rather than reactive.
Many people start as physical traders but want to move to hedge funds. You spent time trading derivatives. Did you enjoy it?
I enjoyed it a lot, but you need a specific mindset. You must almost be emotionless about trades, which is very different from the relationship-driven physical side.
Derivatives are faster and more volatile: a physical deal can take months to put together and last for years, whereas a speculative derivatives trade can be opened and stopped out in minutes. Waking up at 4 a.m. to check prices and having your mood set by your P&L takes getting used to.
I had success, and I didn’t leave derivative trading because I fell out of love with it. I left to build something from scratch – Perfectly Hedged – after a “if not now, when?” moment, while still leveraging the same relationships on the consulting and education side.
If you were to create a three-year “apprenticeship” programme for an aspiring physical trader, what should they concentrate on during years 1, 2, and 3?
I’d begin them in middle office, operations, or logistics to gain in-depth exposure to the physical flow: shipments, finance, back office, accounts, and treasury. Understanding how cargoes move and how cash and documents flow is fundamental.
Then I’d have them spend at least a year on the hedge desk, executing derivative hedges and managing risk for those physical books. When you later structure your own physical contracts, having seen the risk management side up close gives you a significant advantage.
Two years in operations, plus a year on the hedge desk, positions you well to become a physical trader.
What about finance?
Finance is extremely important. You can learn a lot from operations, but a dedicated period in finance – working with LCs, repos, revolvers, borrowing bases, and specific funding structures – provides you with an extra advantage.
If someone spent two years in operations, one year in finance, and then one year on the hedge desk, they would probably begin their trading career with an advantage over someone who only had experience in operations and hedging.
Imagine I’m the Trading Desk Manager. How can I tell if you’re ready to become a trader?
You never know for sure until you give someone risk. People behave differently once they’re directly responsible for P&L.
But you can look for signs. Do they ask inquisitive “why” questions? Do they understand the P&L impact of everyday decisions? Can they think through alternative scenarios if things go wrong?
When I interview, even for non-front-office roles, I ask scenario questions: vessel delays, pricing failures, operational errors. The way candidates think through implications and responses reveals a lot about whether they “have it.”
Some companies organise a trading weekend with stress tests to help determine if someone is ready to become a trader. Do you think they are a good idea?
Several firms use trading games and simulations. Trafigura’s Trader Development Programme (formerly the Junior Trader Programme) runs two days of trading exercises, with senior traders placing candidates in scenarios and monitoring their P&L throughout, then ranking them.
When we recruited for the deals desk at Trafigura, we would present candidates with a pricing screen alongside two phones and challenge them to handle live pricing orders and market movements. Their task was to monitor everything, return calls with fills and stops, and manage the chaos.
These exercises sometimes exaggerate reality, but they are helpful for understanding how people manage stress – and for candidates to determine if they genuinely enjoy that environment. If you don’t enjoy trading, you won’t succeed at it.
Commodity trading is intense and highly competitive. Is that a message you want readers to take away – that it’s not suitable for everyone?
Yes. Commodity trading is extremely high-pressure.
It is also highly competitive. When you get a front‑office seat, you’re given a very short leash and a lot of capital. You must respect that capital and deliver, because capital is scarce and can always be reallocated to another desk – oil, power, metals, freight – if you can’t prove you can use it well.
In your book, you warn that rushing into a trading role too quickly can cut a career short. Could you explain that to us?
The global commodities world is small. Reputations travel quickly.
If you thrust yourself into a trading role before you’re truly prepared and either blow up or consistently underperform, it becomes difficult to transition to another trading seat. When I see CVs with six months in one trading role and a year in another, I begin to question patterns.
That person may simply have been in the wrong place, but if it occurs multiple times, it indicates they’re missing something essential. Taking extra time to understand all parts of the business and the responsibilities of a front-office position increases your chances of a 10-, 20-, or 30-year trading career, rather than a brief, painful stint.
Finally, if a young graduate finishes The Physical Trade and emails you: “What should I actually do next, this week?” – how do you respond?
First, I hope that occurs; it’s a fascinating industry, especially during the energy transition, and I want the book to inspire people. Historically, many graduates entered investment banking; now more are considering commodities.
My advice is to immerse yourself in the industry: trade flows, supply and demand, macro themes. In interviews, you don’t need the next great trade idea, but you must be able to articulate a thoughtful opinion – for example, on copper’s role in AI or EVs, or on how EV demand trends affect metals. That doesn’t come from headlines; it comes from sustained reading and following people and publications.
You will face a lot of rejection, but you only need one yes. Once you have an opportunity, seize it with both hands: ask questions, build relationships, and make yourself indispensable. Be flexible on commodity and location; take any decent seat you can and then shine in it.
Is there any message you want to convey that we haven’t discussed – about your book or the industry?
The commodity trading sector has not been very open. I speak with many students and new entrants who ask the same basic question: “Where can I learn more?”
We compete with hedge funds, banks, and other sectors for top talent, yet there is relatively little accessible information about what we do.
My message to the industry is to be more transparent, organise more events, and do more outreach.
My message to students and graduates is to be proactive, go out of your way to build knowledge, and don’t wait for the industry to come to you.
Thank you, Sam, for your time and input. I wish you every success with the book.
The Physical Trade – A Definitive Guide To Physical Commodity Trading is available on Amazon
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