So where’s the best place to get a burger? I get asked that a lot. I’ll try to give my best answer, but if you live in a place I haven’t visited, I’ll probably draw a blank. Yes, you can read reviews, but the only real way to tell if a burger joint is good,…
Category: General
Data, General, Python
Alt data quants aren’t left out by WallStreetBets
by Saeed Amen •
Over the past few weeks, the retail traders have been in the headlines, in particular because of the massive move in GameStop stock, which has squeezed shorts and also the posts in r/WallStreetBets, a subreddit which is described as “Like 4chan found a Bloomberg Terminal”. r/WallStreetBets has featured a lot of posts on GameStop stock…
Foreign Exchange, General, Python
Research impact of delta hedging with Python
by Saeed Amen •
One of the things which I found confusing at first with options, is the fact that lots of the folks trading them, don’t really have a view about whether the spot price will go up and down. They are basically trading the volatility parameter from options pricing models (Emanuel Derman explains the point about trading…
Data, Foreign Exchange, General, Python
Calculating FX total returns in Python
by Saeed Amen •
If you want a train, you have to build a train track. It doesn’t matter, if it’s a steam train or bullet train, or any other train. It’s a prerequisite. No track kind of implies the train can’t run. Obviously, each train needs a different type of track, but ultimately the principle is the same…
Data, General, Python
Python days might not be Numba-ed
by Saeed Amen •
You remember when we used to fly? Well, I do! The big bottleneck in flying was not always the flight if you were going short haul. Maybe it took an hour or two. However, what took time was getting the airport, checking in, queuing, delays in boarding etc. One way to try to reduce such…
Data, Foreign Exchange, General, Macro, Python
Hundreds of quant papers from #QuantLinkADay in 2020
by Saeed Amen •
This has been a challenging year by pretty much any other standard. I remember when I was kid, and heard the year 2020, it sounded very exciting. It’d be like Back to the Future, with hoverboards and flying cars. Instead, 2020 has been all about the coronavirus. Whilst I’ve been lucky enough to be safe…
General
What questions to ask in quant?
by Saeed Amen •
Often the most difficult thing in research in quant, just like every other area, is simply getting started. Once you know the question you’re trying to answer at least you have an idea of a potential path. Of course precisely which question you might want to ask to dependent on the objective. Whilst having a…
General
Industry TV drama or grad reality?
by Saeed Amen •
There are many subjects which seem to cause discussion on financial Twitter or fintwit to use its most common abbreviation. Of course, there’s been Brexit and Trump in recent years. Whilst the previous seems oblivious to ever ending (deal or not), the latter seems on the wane following the election. Other topics such as MMT…
Data, General
Find the questions to solve with alt data
by Saeed Amen •
Buzzwords, buzzwords, buzzwords. Every age has different buzzwords. Today, probably some of the most popular are machine data and alternative data, whether you work in finance or any other industry. Want to make more profits? Well, use machine learning, use alternative data etc. (ok, it isn’t that easy, but I’ll explain more later). Rather…
Data, General
The cloud and higher level managed services
by Saeed Amen •
In the good old days (well, perhaps they weren’t always “good”), you had to build most things yourself, rather than buy them off the shelf. You had to make your own burgers. Ok, I made up that specific case…. However, when it came to technology stacks, there was less available than today, and you…