Equities Trader of the Year
Vivian Bakonyi
Firm: BLACKROCK
When interviewed by Traders In late October, Vivian Bakonyi was on maternity leave following the birth of her daughter, Brooke. One would think that a 20-year veteran who has worked for two decades at hedge fund giant BlackRock in its various forms would want a change of scenery. Think again.
Bakonyi serves as a program trader; she trades equities and international and U.S. derivatives for Paul Whitehead’s team. Even after 20 years, she still loves to trade. “I love coming in every day and dealing with the markets and having something different to deal with,” she said. And the people I work with. These are the two factors that make my job a dream job.”
Bakonyi graduated with an economics degree from the University of California at Davis, and she joined the investment wing of Wells Fargo at the moment when electronic trading and the Internet were exploding. Not only does she remember the days before using an order management system, she can recall when Lotus 1-2-3, not Microsoft Excel, was the de facto spreadsheet. “I started out as taking baskets in an archaic format on lists that were printed out,” she said. “Every single name of the S&P 500 would be in the basket and would get that coded into the system, and that’s how we would translate the programs to our brokers.”
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The technology has changed since her start at Wells Fargo, which she called a pioneer in program trading, but she still sees some similarities at BlackRock. “We still do things in basket format, but the complexity and the strategies we can employ now are just so much more sophisticated because the technology has evolved so much,” she pointed out.
Bakonyi works as one of 12 traders – 14 if you count the managers who trade ? for several portfolio managers. She is not tied to one fund but works across different portfolios inside the firm’s San Francisco offices. “I come in every day and pull the trigger,” she said.
Despite believing that women are under-represented in financial services, Bakonyi still thinks they have plenty to offer their investment firms. “We bring a lot to the table, and there are many things that are inherent in a woman’s personality that helps her be a trader,” she said, citing “the ability to multitask, being able to keep calm and have a large view of what is going on in the markets.”
For a young woman thinking about entering the trading world, Bakonyi said she should do a gut check and dive in. “If you have confidence in yourself and not be intimidated that there aren’t as many women in the industry,” she said, “you should go ahead and forge your own path.”
