BBC financial expert Alessio Rastani, the trader who according to one Telegraph article was misquoted as saying “I’m an attention seeker, not a trader” appeared on Swiss Financial Television recently to give his forecast for the major currency markets.
This is what the Telegraph had to say about Alessio Rastani back in September 2011:
“He’s become the face of the global debt crisis and an internet sensation. The self-styled City trader who stripped away the jargon and bluster of the financial world and summed up our woes in just three minutes. ‘I go to bed every night dreaming of another recession,’ Alessio Rastani explained in a BBC interview. ‘It’s an opportunity.'”
The BBC interview video went viral on the internet and became an instant Youtube hit attracting more than 2.2 million viewers.
BBC business editor Robert Peston commented on the video: “A must watch if you want to understand the euro crisis and how markets work.”
According to the Telegraph: “The interview contained such gems as “Governments don’t rule the world, Goldman Sachs rules the world.”
I asked Alessio Rastani to comment on the Telegraph’s article and why the newspaper had quoted him as saying that he was ‘not a trader’.
“It’s very interesting how even the most respected newspapers can twist your words and make them sound like something else,” Alessio commented.
“What I actually had said to the Telegraph was that trading was a life time passion of mine, not just a business.” Alessio began to explain. “In the same way that a detective or artist loves his work as well as making money from it”.
“For some reason the word ‘passion’ was misinterpreted by the newspaper as ‘hobby’ and the Telegraph went from that to say that ‘I was not a trader'”.
Alessio does not blame the newspaper for this mistake, however:
“I understand that journalists are hungry for negative news – because negativity sells! It’s a just a shame that the media feels they need to sacrifice the truth to sell papers.”
Alessio has been a full time independent stock market trader since 2005, after he quit his “normal 9-5 job” in the City.
Alessio Rastani trading at the office
“I never wanted to have some ‘plush office in Canary Wharf’ (the Wall Street of London),” he explained. “I have never been the kind of person who wants to work for someone else and be dependent on someone else for a paycheck.”
I asked Alessio if it is true that he is an “attention seeker”:
“Hey, who doesn’t like getting attention every now and then?” he joked.
“But no, seriously, I believe that there is a God. And I would not go on national television to say something to the public that I personally did not believe to be true. My conscience would not allow it.”
In the Swiss TV interview (see above video) Alessio gave his forecast for the major currency pairs, in particular, the Euro-dollar. He focuses mostly on technical analysis of the markets, as well as economics and finance.
This article was written by our guest contributor and writer Alistair Richie.