Meet Dominick Chirichella: DTN Institute Trainer & Market Analyst

Dominick Chirichella blends quotes and real-life market events into his classroom presentations on market insights.

“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” – Ben Franklin

“The market is always telling us what to do – traders make money by listening to what the market is saying and lose money by failing to listen to the market signals,” said Dominick, director of market insights at DTN.  Combined with years of experience as an expert in market analysis, Dominick’s reference here to climatic market events perfectly sums up his approach to training.

“I have been around for most of the major geopolitical events going back to the Saudi embargo of 1973, the Iranian revolution in 1979, the oil price collapse in 1986, the Iraqi war in 1990, the oil price collapse again in 1998 due to the Asian financial crisis, the global financial crisis in 2008 and the current dynamic change in the oil complex driven by the U.S. shale revolution,” he said.

These international calamities have “reinforced the lessons taught to students to always be looking for catalysts leading up to major events and always being prepared in trading and hedging strategies,” Dominick continued. “Also, I emphasize evaluating event-driven market environments to determine whether it is a structural change or simply noise. Lots of market information is simply noise.”

Dominick believes educated and well-trained employees stay abreast and in tune with changing industry standards. Their companies hold a position of leadership within their industry and remain a strong competitor. Training not only results in employees with a greater understanding of their roles, but it also builds confidence, reduces employee turnover and increases innovation.

With multiple areas of expertise, Dominick teaches on-demand and in-person courses. “I enjoy teaching both types of courses, but in-person courses allow me to interact directly with attendees and provide them with an opportunity to ask questions in real-time,” he said. “As an instructor, I create many different ad-hoc examples during the sessions that back up many of the teaching points as well as answering students’ questions.”

Dominick says he receives very positive feedback about DTN Institute’s U.S. physical crude oil and refined products trading courses. These courses use a real-time market simulator to teach would-be traders about market variables. By using a variety of scenarios, attendees generate live data that emphasizes real-life market behaviors.

With a mechanical engineering degree from Farleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, N.J., and later a master’s degree in business from Union College in New York, Dominick started his career as part of Texaco’s research staff. He then went on to start the company’s international trading group. Dominick later honed his training skills at Energy Management Institute, which was acquired by DTN in April 2018.

Dominick teaches courses in the oil and natural gas arenas, including crude oil and natural gas trading, simulated trading, energy risk management, futures options and derivatives.

“I consider myself a student of the market. I love market analysis and understanding what the markets do,” he said.