Bloomberg Tradebook Identifies the X Factor in Trading with Launch of Trader Brain Exercise

- Developed with risk and trading psychology consultants, The ReThink Group

- The tool allows traders to exercise the skill of predicting short-term price movements

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Jul 06, 2016, 09:03 ET

NEW YORK, July 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloomberg Tradebook, Bloomberg's global agency brokerage business, in partnership with risk and trading psychology practice, The ReThink Group, unveiled its Trader Brain Exercise, a tool that helps traders sharpen the skills they need to predict short-term price movements.

"At Tradebook, we are putting tools in the hands of our clients to help them optimize trading. While technology plays an important role in seeking best execution, achieving this ultimately depends on the skills of an individual trader," said Glenn Lesko, CEO, Tradebook. "This exercise builds on Tradebook's mission to empower buy-side traders by helping our clients hone their core skillset in an innovative way."

The Trader Brain Exercise displays a series of videos that depict the movement of shapes. Traders must study each scene and then anticipate the direction of the shapes' next move. The ability to do this successfully correlates to the trader's skill in predicting short-term movements in price.

"Scientific evidence shows us that more than mathematical or logical ability, a trader's mental and emotional skills are what is critical to trading success. By stimulating the parts of the brain responsible for predictive ability, the exercise is helping traders to sharpen the skills associated with high performance without the pressure of executing real trades," said Denise Shull, founder of The ReThink Group, which offers proprietary coaching, training and assessment tools designed to enhance human performance.

The Trader Brain Exercise is based on a study conducted by Antoine Bruguier, Steven R. Quartz and Peter Bossaerts at the California Institute of Technology, published in the Journal of Finance in 2010. The study, "Exploring the Nature of 'Trader Intuition'," looked at how uninformed traders infer information from the trading process and found that the skill in predicting price changes in markets is more strongly connected with Theory of Mind, or human capacity to discern malicious or benevolent intent, than mathematical skill.

"The Trader Brain Exercise is the first in what promises to become a unique suite of financial training tools that are designed based on solid scientific analysis of trading skill. To use it is akin to performing the proven exercises that enhance a piano player, a diver, a navy seal, or a pilot," said Peter Bossaerts, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and Professor of Experimental Finance and Decision Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne.

"Trading desks will be able to train their members into becoming better traders without risking the company's money. No longer will trading skill need to be considered innate or something that can only be learned on the job. It can be strengthened through exercising," added Bossaerts.

The Trader Brain Exercise can be accessed via the Bloomberg Professional service {TBX<GO>} or by visiting www.TraderBrainExercise.com, and is optimized for use on IOS mobile devices.

About Bloomberg Tradebook
Bloomberg Tradebook is a leading agency broker that partners with both the buy side and sell side to provide direct market access, access to high-quality liquidity, market insight, independent research and innovative technologies through the Bloomberg Professional service. Established in 1996, Bloomberg Tradebook and its affiliates offer its global customer base trading solutions for equities, futures, options and ETFs so they can execute complex-trading strategies across more than 100 global exchanges in over 40 countries. Bloomberg Tradebook Services LLC offers clients trading capabilities in spot FX. For more information, visit www.bloombergtradebook.com and http://www.bloombergtradebook.com/pdfs/disclaimer.pdf

About ReThink Group
The ReThink Group specializes in cultivating that mysterious X factor so often noted in the performances of exceptional traders and athletes. Our boutique consultancy capitalizes on the latest neuroscience and psychological research into how human thoughts and feelings merge to create our best decisions and optimal behaviors. Turning science into actionable strategies and tactics, The ReThink Group assesses, coaches and trains professional money managers and athletes in advanced emotional intelligence – the secret to the elusive X factor and triumphing over market and competitive pressures. Information about The ReThink Group can be found at http://therethinkgroup.net/. Connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

About Denise Shull
Denise Shull MA, an expert in advanced emotional intelligence, founded The ReThink Group in 2003 in order to solve the challenges of slumps, repetitive mistakes and confidence crises in professional traders and money managers. Denise's proprietary coaching, training and X-factor assessment tools identify and augment that mysterious X factor of exceptional human performance.

Her book, Market Mind Games, a Radical Psychology of Investing, Trading and Risk has been described as "best of its genre" and a "veritable Rosetta Stone of trading psychology". The WSJ, FT, Bloomberg Markets, Risk Professional and New York Times' Dealbook have each profiled Shull. In 2016, Fortune, The Guardian and the NY Observer covered Shull as one of the inspirations for the performance coach role on Showtime's BILLIONS drama.

Shull holds a Master of Arts from The University of Chicago in neuropsychology and is a graduate of Harvard's professional seminar in Behavioral Finance.

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SOURCE Bloomberg