Anyone here doing it themselves?

white · Post by **white** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 4:22 pm

I understand that most here are employed at banks or larger investment funds as quantitative financial analysts or developers.

But I am curious if any of you are doing it yourself or in small 2-3 man shops.

By "doing it" I mean performing speculation or investment using quantitative methods possibly via an automated trading system.

If so: What is your basic approach? Classical finance such as tangent portfolio optimization / rebalancing, statistical arbitrage, astrological numerology?

What is your basic setup? What level of automatization do you have? What broker do you use?

sasquatch · Post by **sasquatch** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 9:05 pm

Just a little FYI for you...

Do some research in the site and find out what questions are appropriate for you to ask and which of your questions could be answered just by doing a little reading and using a little tool here called "Search"... If you still can't find what you need, read some more.

Tradenator · Post by **Tradenator** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 5:17 am

I was told that doing it by yourself too often will make you go blind. Wink

Cheng · Post by **Cheng** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 12:10 pm

You got that one wrong. If you do it by yourself a little part of your brain goes through your spine and gets lost forever. However you won't go blind Smiley .

Tradenator · Post by **Tradenator** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 2:07 am

Cheng, ummm, thanks. Ummm, duhhhhh, is there any way to reverse the drain bamage? Confused

white · Post by **white** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 1:59 pm

sasquatch - I am sorry if I asked an inappropriate question.

I did my best to search thru the forum history.

I am honestly curious as to if and how quantitative finance is used in small shops or one-man setups.

Why is this question inappropriate???

Cheng · Post by **Cheng** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:43 am

[i]Cheng, ummm, thanks. Ummm, duhhhhh, is there any way to reverse the drain bamage?[/i]

Of course. Dink lots of alcohol, preferably beer. The alcohol will kill the weak brain cells, the strong ones will survive. This means the more you drink the more intelligent you become on average.

sharpend · Post by **sharpend** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 9:41 am

white, i am new here so i don't know any of the people. clearly, the search function is not the answer. i don't know why sasquatch was such a dick. it seems common enough here though. it seems bizarre for a headhunter to be a rude to your face.

from reading past threads i gather a few people here are doing it themselves or in small shops.

as far as i know there are many people who do. many strategies do exceptionally well but are not scalable at all and this is the sweet spot for them. for large funds the profits are too small to dedicate resources to this--though some do--and therefore the anomalies or whatever have not disappeared as more assets chase them. there are people who have good success starting with <100k.

how it is used is straightforward enough: system trading and such. using Interactive Brokers or an introducing broker to a larger prime broker if you are small.

i don't see how this is an inappropriate question either, but i suppose that is for the community to decide.

Baltazar · Post by **Baltazar** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 9:50 am

Some people here run their own book.

I guess they just want to avoid the next question: how do you do that.

I am not so I can answer: yes i know from face to face at least 3 people here running their own book.

regarding a HH being rude, i'd rather have a HH speaking his mind then one saying exactly what he thinks you want to hear.

sharpend · Post by **sharpend** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 9:57 am

regarding a headhunter being rude. i said it was bizarre because i meant in contrast normal. like when they have been caught doing it behind a candidates back in permanent files they keep.

in any case rude is rude. some people find it an appropriate way to interact.