Gregory M. McDermott earned a Masters in Applied Finance while studying on a Rotary International Scholarship at Macquarie University’s Centre for Money and Banking in Sydney, Australia. In 1988, he was introduced to foreign currency trading by a Professor at Macquarie University who was the head of Australia New Zealand Bank FX Trading Desk. Greg studied the currency markets and option trading as part of his Masters of Applied Finance Curriculum. He holds a BS in Financial Management from Saint Joseph’s University.

Greg was hired by the Timber Hill’s Foreign Currency Options Trading Group at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) in 1991. He began trading his career on the floor of the American Stock Exchange as an XMI Index and Equity Options Clerk. Early in 1992, he moved to the New York Mercantile Exchange working on the Floor as a Crude Oil Options & Futures Clerk. He passed the Membership Exam with a perfect score and began trading Crude Oil Options in the summer of 1993.

Rockrimmon Securities, an AMEX Market Marking Firm, hired Greg to open a trading unit at the PHLX in the fall of 1993. He was responsible for hiring and training all floor personnel, monitoring the each market maker’s intra-day and inter-day risk profile and hedging the PHLX group’s overnight risk. In addition to managing the firm’s floor trading operation, Greg was a market maker in Dell Computer options, one of the busiest equity option in the country. He traded Dell Computer Options in a crowd that grew from 6 to nearly 100 market makers and worked with our own Ron Ianieri.

Greg’s success with Rockrimmon Securities’ PHLX market makers helped lay the groundwork for the establishment of an Equity Options Specialist unit. After a management split, Rockrimmon Securities became the market making firm JAS Securities and Gateway Partners, a PHLX options specialist unit.

JAS Securities’ Partners asked Greg to oversee an off-floor trading desk in late 1999 while still running their PHLX Floor Trading Unit. He managed the off-floor staff and qualified an International Securities Exchange (ISE) DTR.

Since leaving the floor, Greg enjoyed an exceptional career in the Wholesale Mortgage Business. Most recently, he was the National Sales Manager for PNC Bank Home Equity Partners.

Greg joined Options University in April of 2008 as Chief FX Strategist at the urging and strong personal recommendation of Ron Ianieri, based on his experience working with Greg as a professional trader.