Man United, Chelsea, West Ham trade with OSTC

Players from Premier League clubs including Manchester United, Chelsea and West Ham are trying their hands at trading courtesy of prop trading firm OSTC.

The London-based firm has offered 500 free places to players from football, rugby and cricket clubs as well as various sports bodies including the FA, The Premier League, The Rugby Players’ Association and The Professional Cricketers’ Association.

OSTC said in a statement on Wednesday the clubs and associations have been given free access to an online training course in financial markets trading to help keep their staff mentally fit during the shutdown.

The prop trading firm is offering access to the the Level 5 Advanced Diploma in Financial Trading through its educational unit Zishi

Rob Russell, global head of professional qualifications at ZISHI, said: “The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented levels of disruption and uncertainty for sport across the UK, from the grass roots to the elite level.”

Russell added: “Now more than ever, clubs are underlining the importance of providing athletes with educational options outside of sport and we’re thrilled to help deliver that, for free, to the nation’s sportspeople whose careers are on hold during the pandemic.”

Zishi already works with elite-level athletes at clubs such as Saracens RFC, Ospreys and Chelsea FC.

OSTC believes many sportsmen and women have the qualities to be successful traders

The “soft skills” required for a career in trading – notably calmness under pressure, problem-solving skills and the ability to think quickly and critically – mean those from a sporting background are often ideally suited to a career in financial trading, OSTC said.

Jack Clifford, a Harlequins & England Rugby International player, said: “I spent a day with OSTC experiencing a sample of their development programme first-hand. From that small introduction, I can appreciate the comparisons of behaviours required to succeed in sport and trading.” 

Clifford added: “This definitely sparked an interest and desire to learn more.  OSTC opening up this programme to support development for athletes off the field has been gratefully received at this time”.

OSTC chief Lee Hodgkinson said in April the firm was looking to apply a new performance analytics tool designed for traders outside of the financial sector.

He said: “We’re really interested in taking this service to external clients and are in discussions with a number at the moment about rolling it out to their traders.”