James F

Equities & Derivatives Trader

Self Employed • Fulltime

Jan 2020 - Nov 2025 • 5 yrs 10 mos

Managed a $15 million portfolio across equities, commodities, and options for a family office, making allocation and risk decisions independently. • Exercised independent professional judgment daily, under deadline pressure and with real consequences, without close supervision. Every position was researched, sized, and defended on my own analysis. • Researched unfamiliar sectors, companies, and macroeconomic conditions continuously. The core skill of the job was learning a new subject quickly and being right about it. • Taught myself AI software development using frontier LLM technology and built a suite of custom analytics tools from scratch, writing code against live market data APIs to model options sentiment, volatility, market breadth, sector rotation, and portfolio risk. I built them because the tools I wanted did not exist. • Documented my methodology into repeatable, step-by-step processes so that decisions were systematic rather than improvised, and so results could be reviewed after the fact. • Managed risk continuously across a multi-asset book, sizing exposure and cutting losses against a defined process rather than instinct. • Handled sensitive financial data with accuracy and discretion. • Owned the full loop end to end: strategy, execution, record keeping, performance tracking, and accountability for the outcome.

Founder

other • Fulltime

May 2011 - Sep 2019 • 8 yrs 4 mos

Founded and bootstrapped Audiophile Music Group with no outside investment and ran it for ten years, building it into one of the most active independent electronic labels in Texas. • Built and ran five imprints (Audiophile Live, Audiophile Deep, Audiophile Records, Bodhi Collective, and Eukaryota) spanning genres across the spectrum. • Signed and released artists including The Crystal Method, Alok, John Summit, Dillon Nathaniel, Westend, Botnek with Grammy-nominated talent on the roster. • Ran the entire release chain in house: A&R, distribution, mixdowns and mastering, music publishing, radio and playlist pitching, blog pitching, PR, marketing and social media management of accounts totaling over 250,000 followers across Facebook, Instagram, Soundcloud, Youtube. • Served as primary point of contact for 500+ artists and industry partners worldwide, handling negotiations, scheduling, and day-to-day communication across phone, email, and chat. • Earned press coverage in the VICE, Mixmag, DJ Mag, Resident Advisor, Dallas Observer. • Produced roughly five large-scale events per year for audiences of 500+, managing venues, vendors, logistics, on-site execution, and live audio. • Handled accounting and royalty administration for the life of the label, calculating and disbursing artist payments and keeping accurate financial records. • Built strong relationships with store curators and digital retailers including Beatport, Juno, Apple Music and Spotify. • Created graphic design and video content in house for releases, campaigns, and social channels. • Led a small team across creative and business functions, and documented operational processes so the work could be executed consistently without me in the room.