Who Giacomo Is and His Early Trading Mistakes
Chelsi
Hello everyone, and welcome to a new interview from the Unger Academy. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Giacomo, one of our students who, after following our training programs on mechanical and systematic trading, closed 2025 with a return of 45%. Not bad at all, right? Hi Giacomo!
Giacomo
Hi.
Chelsi
So, let’s start by talking about you. Who you are and what you do for a living… all of that!
Giacomo
Well, I’m a teacher. I teach aeronautical navigation in secondary school, which is a pretty specific subject, but it’s my field. I’ve always been passionate about airplanes, so I first graduated in nautical sciences. Then, not satisfied, I earned another degree in aerospace engineering because I also love studying. Studying is my life, I always say. I completed a PhD and I’m actually working on another one now. So basically, I’ve never stopped studying.
That’s what I do and I’ve been doing for the last 32 years now. I’ve also published some exercise books on navigation, and I’ve taken on several roles within the school system, like serving as president of state exam committees and so on. So my main job, at least for now, is teaching.
Chelsi
That sounds pretty complex to me!
Giacomo
Yes, yes, it is, quite a bit.
Chelsi
Before joining our Academy, you already traded or…?
From Discretionary to Systematic Trading
Giacomo
It was kind of a journey. At the beginning, it was a disaster. I’ve always believed in making my money work, so I didn’t want to just leave my savings sitting in the bank. I wanted to invest. My first investments were actually through the bank, but I quickly realized they were the ones making money, not me. So I basically stopped almost right away.
Then I came across a company, now a joint stock company, that introduced me to the world of investing. What really caught my attention was trading, which I knew absolutely nothing about before that meeting. By bad luck, or maybe good luck, I ended up dealing with one of those questionable companies, and I lost some money there. And since I’m an engineer, I tend to get stubborn about things. I thought, this can’t be right, something here isn’t working.
That’s actually why I really connected with Andrea Unger’s story when I discovered Unger Academy, because his experience was somewhat similar to mine. In the meantime, I had resumed working with that previous company, where they did what you might call regular trading…
Chelsi
Discretionary?
Giacomo
Exactly, discretionary trading. And I realized that as a teacher, I simply didn’t have the time to sit in front of a computer for hours and hours to manage trades.
The same thing happened when I kept looking for other options. I met the brother of that first guy, who also offered discretionary trading, with so-called formulas and small programs that were supposed to give more certainty about the trades I was placing.
So I entered the trading world that way. But it felt very limiting to me. It was actually him who told me, check out Andrea Unger’s website, maybe that’s more your thing. And he was right. I was looking for something that would allow me to work when I had time, set up strategies that could then run on their own, exactly like systematic trading does. And that’s what I did.
His First Live Year at a Loss: What Happened
I started about two years ago with the first training programs, step by step. I studied a lot, because I love studying, almost like I was doing another PhD. I filled notebooks with notes. During the first year I traded in simulation, just to understand how everything worked. Then in 2024 I went live.
In fact, I was in the red for the entire year, and I even have capital losses to offset for tax purposes. But that didn’t discourage me, because somehow I felt I was on the right path. I probably just hadn’t fully understood all the mechanisms yet.
So, in 2025, once things became clearer… because you know that it takes time. You have to give yourself time to really understand how everything works and to put into practice all the knowledge you’ve built up.
And that’s how we got to this 45% return. I’m extremely happy, because hopefully it’s just the beginning of a long series. The start of 2026 is also going quite well, and I hope to keep going like this.
So that’s basically my trading story. I’m very happy with what I’ve found and with being part of Unger Academy. I’m truly happy about it.
Chelsi
Oh yes, we’re always happy to have you too!
Giacomo
Thank you.
Chelsi
What problems did you have throughout the whole that you took?
Giacomo
Well, the initial problem was simply a lack of knowledge. I imagine that was the main reason. Trading isn’t something easy, but it’s not impossible either, in my opinion.
So yes, the early problems were mostly about that. For example, I didn’t even know what a broker really was, and I just picked one… where was it based, Cyprus? I don’t even remember.
And I got burned right away because of that. If I had known that many of them weren’t exactly reliable, I would have avoided that situation.
But that’s okay, because I don’t see negative experiences as truly negative. I see them as constructive. That experience showed me where not to go, basically. After that, I educated myself more, I learned how to move more carefully. And with Unger Academy, I feel completely at ease, because I know the experience behind the Academy is valuable. For me, it’s extremely valuable information.
So yes, the beginning of my journey was a bit up and down, but it pushed me to keep going and to figure out where I could improve. And that definitely helped.
Chelsi
Of course! Sure. And why did you choose us specifically over the others?
Why He Chose Unger Academy
Giacomo
I chose Unger Academy mainly because of Andrea. Listening to his interviews and hearing about his path, I really saw myself in his story.
The engineer mindset, insisting on things, being resilient, always looking for solutions. For us, the word impossible doesn’t really exist. At least I try to remove it from my vocabulary. There are always different ways to reach a solution. You just have to figure out how to get there. You can’t expect it immediately, you have to persist, and sooner or later you’ll get there.
So yes, it was mainly him. I also listened to a few other interviews, but Andrea Unger was the main reason that convinced me to start this journey. Definitely him.
Chelsi
And you can, I mean, he’s won four times!
Giacomo
Exactly. That gave me a lot of confidence.
Chelsi
A good resume, let’s say. What part of the program helped you the most?
Giacomo
What I liked the most, and what helped me a lot, was the methodology. First of all, the videos are extremely helpful, but also the step by step structure that really walks you through everything and helps you understand the concepts. I also appreciated having the books, because I still love paper. I’m kind of old school. So I wrote down a lot of what I learned and applied it right away. I could see almost immediately how to put into practice what I was studying.
Of course, trading has a theoretical foundation, and that’s essential. But the most important part is the application. You need to apply what you’ve understood and check whether you really got the lesson right. So it’s about knowing what to do and then seeing if it actually works. That’s the key part.
Chelsi
Okay, thank you. I understand that in your journey, even if not super recently but, I mean, the latest thing you added to your path would be options trading?
The Turning Point: Diversifying with Systems and Options
Giacomo
Yes, because I realized that if I only have one entry point, and I rely just on that, it’s not ideal. In the investment world in general, diversification is essential. I’ve heard that in many lessons online too, diversification is key.
So I decided to try the options path. I studied again, of course. I first started with the Easy options program, and I began trading with that. Those trades went well too.
Then I moved on to the Master options program. I still have some open positions, and I recently closed some as well. That’s working very well too.
Of course, you need to study, understand, apply, and then see how it works. And I have to say, it helped me a lot to have someone reviewing my work and correcting me where things weren’t clear. So I’ll take this chance to thank Davide for that.
Chelsi
Great, Davide will be happy. What results have you achieved after following our programs?
+45% in 2025: Result or Consequence of the Method?
Giacomo
The results were not immediate. At that stage, I was really relying on trust. I was convinced it had to work, it just couldn’t not work. Based on everything I had studied, read, and applied, even in paper trading the results were very good. But once I went live, it was up and down, up and down continuously. I could never really break past my account balance. And that was the whole first year of live trading.
From the second year onward, with new implementations, first with Titan and then with Zeus, I understood better how the systems worked, especially some that I built myself. Gradually, things started improving. They began moving in the right direction. So I finally got confirmation of what I had believed all along, that sooner or later things would start clicking. It was just a matter of time.
I’d say it was also about confidence, maybe even a bit of overconfidence in my abilities. But in a positive way. By continuing to study, and since I have a fairly quick mind, I could tell that I was basically lending money to the market for a while, but sooner or later it would give it back. And that’s exactly what happened. In 2025 I closed the year very well.
Chelsi
Yes, congratulations as well.
Giacomo
Thank you, thank you.
Chelsi
How has your life changed since you started trading?
Giacomo
Well, there are pros and cons. It does require commitment, so it takes time away from other things. There were activities I couldn’t keep up with anymore. For example, I used to read a lot, not just about trading but other topics too.
I also wanted to publish more books, but I couldn’t dedicate time to writing new ones. Life is about priorities. We all have to prioritize certain things, and that means setting others aside. It doesn’t mean we’ll never do them again, we just pause them and pick them up later. I call it time management, managing your time properly. And when things settle, you can return to what you set aside.
Right now I’m focusing on this, because my goal is to build investments that generate returns. Of course, there’s also enjoyment in it. I genuinely like working on programming, on software in general.
For example, I created a small tool in Matlab. I’ll mention this because it also motivates me to do more. When you collect data each month, checking in Zeus which systems perform better, you gather data over several years, and sometimes you end up with duplicate data.
Every time I uploaded those duplicates into Zeus, the program would freeze, and I had to manually go through and remove them.
So I wrote a small Matlab script that handles it automatically. Now I just download the data, even if there are duplicates, I run it through Matlab, it cleans everything up, and then I upload it into Zeus without wasting time.
So it pushes me to explore more, still within the same field. Overall, as I said, there are positive and negative changes. Priorities shift a bit. But the things we used to enjoy, we can always come back to them later. So overall, I’d say it’s a positive change.
His Advice for Anyone Starting Today
Chelsi
Excellent, thank you. What advice would you give to someone who wants to start trading but is still undecided?
Giacomo
The main advice is patience. This is not something you achieve overnight. If someone is in a hurry, it’s better not to start, because you really need to give yourself time, and allow time to fully absorb all the concepts behind it.
These are not simple concepts. But again, nothing is impossible. If you take it step by step, learning one thing at a time, applying it, then moving on to the next concept, you keep progressing steadily.
Anyone approaching this world has to be very patient. I already had some patience, but this journey definitely strengthens it even more, especially if you’re not naturally patient.
The second thing is passion. You need genuine interest in this field. I always say that with passion, you can get anywhere. Without it, every obstacle feels twice as hard, and it becomes much easier to give up.
So you need passion for this world, which is a bit unique. Personally, I love it, because anything related to math, physics, science in general fascinates me. I recently went to CERN for training courses, for example.
All of that excites me, and that kind of curiosity helps a lot when facing trading. So patience and passion are the two main pieces of advice I would give. And investing in education is essential. That’s how I see it.
Even if you spend a bit more on proper training, what you gain compared to what you spend is on a completely different level. If someone thinks, that’s too much to invest, I would say no, it’s not. Because in the end, it comes back to you anyway…
Chelsi
And not just for fun.
Giacomo
Exactly. Education is extremely important, at least in my view. If that can help someone, then I’m happy to share it.
Chelsi
Well, great, Giacomo, thank you so much for your time with us. As I always say, I wish you a 2026 that is even more…
Giacomo
Even more profitable, why not?
Chelsi
Exactly, exactly. And then I wish you and everyone watching, happy trading!
