Question about quants
- Thread starter ginux
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For those that asked about the book mentioned above:
http://www.amazon.com/Predictors-Ma...0717676?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177690471&sr=8-1
"Using a computer to beat Wall Street from afar is, arguably, the new American dream. While it will remain just that for most of us, an offbeat gang of academics turned financial wizards is showing it can be done. Led by acclaimed physicists Doyne Farmer and Norman Packard, the Santa Fe-based Prediction Company has proven since its 1991 founding in an adobe bungalow furnished with plastic lawn chairs and top-of-the-line Sun workstations that it is indeed possible to make millions in the world's financial markets by anticipating trends and developing software that automatically capitalizes on them. In The Predictors, Thomas A. Bass colorfully relates their tale of fiscal triumph--and reveals in the process how even an unorthodox group of antibusiness intellectuals in far-off New Mexico can make the world's biggest institutions sit up and take notice.
Long esteemed in the scientific community, Farmer and Packard have become legendary in hacker circles since their failed attempt to beat the roulette tables in Las Vegas with toe-operated computers was chronicled in Bass's well-regarded 1985 book called The Eudaemonic Pie. This time, though, the two hit the jackpot with their cutting-edge computer programs and the company they created to trade German marks, Chicago commodities, Japanese treasury bonds, Texas oil futures, and New York securities. Bass's prose is a bit flowery at times, but his perceptive you-are-there account is nonetheless entertaining and sure to cement the pair's reputation as today's ultimate masters of "phynance," the successful, and now oft-copied, merger of physics and finance. --Howard Rothman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In 1991, physicists Doyne Farmer, Norman Packard, and Jim McGill established the Prediction Company in Santa Fe, NM, intending to use their knowledge of chaos theory (the study of complex systems) to develop predictive models and automated black-box systems for beating financial markets worldwide. That they succeeded is only part of the story, the more interesting part of this tale being its human side. In Wired contributor Bass's account, we see the primary characters deal with a broad array of charlatans and geniuses, learn from their successes and failures, grow to appreciate the problems inherent in traditional economic theory, and become adept businessmen and managers. Useful as a primer in chaos theory as well as the various challenges that face start-up firms and the complexity of financial markets, this marvelous story should interest readers in both public and academic libraries."
nitro
http://www.amazon.com/Predictors-Ma...0717676?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177690471&sr=8-1
"Using a computer to beat Wall Street from afar is, arguably, the new American dream. While it will remain just that for most of us, an offbeat gang of academics turned financial wizards is showing it can be done. Led by acclaimed physicists Doyne Farmer and Norman Packard, the Santa Fe-based Prediction Company has proven since its 1991 founding in an adobe bungalow furnished with plastic lawn chairs and top-of-the-line Sun workstations that it is indeed possible to make millions in the world's financial markets by anticipating trends and developing software that automatically capitalizes on them. In The Predictors, Thomas A. Bass colorfully relates their tale of fiscal triumph--and reveals in the process how even an unorthodox group of antibusiness intellectuals in far-off New Mexico can make the world's biggest institutions sit up and take notice.
Long esteemed in the scientific community, Farmer and Packard have become legendary in hacker circles since their failed attempt to beat the roulette tables in Las Vegas with toe-operated computers was chronicled in Bass's well-regarded 1985 book called The Eudaemonic Pie. This time, though, the two hit the jackpot with their cutting-edge computer programs and the company they created to trade German marks, Chicago commodities, Japanese treasury bonds, Texas oil futures, and New York securities. Bass's prose is a bit flowery at times, but his perceptive you-are-there account is nonetheless entertaining and sure to cement the pair's reputation as today's ultimate masters of "phynance," the successful, and now oft-copied, merger of physics and finance. --Howard Rothman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In 1991, physicists Doyne Farmer, Norman Packard, and Jim McGill established the Prediction Company in Santa Fe, NM, intending to use their knowledge of chaos theory (the study of complex systems) to develop predictive models and automated black-box systems for beating financial markets worldwide. That they succeeded is only part of the story, the more interesting part of this tale being its human side. In Wired contributor Bass's account, we see the primary characters deal with a broad array of charlatans and geniuses, learn from their successes and failures, grow to appreciate the problems inherent in traditional economic theory, and become adept businessmen and managers. Useful as a primer in chaos theory as well as the various challenges that face start-up firms and the complexity of financial markets, this marvelous story should interest readers in both public and academic libraries."
nitro
Sorry, I do not know who wrote The Master swing Trader.
nitro and a few others have summed this up nicely.
a quant can simply quantify his or her expectations of a market expectations. Quants develop and employ predictive strategies.
these strategies are generally heavily influenced by statistics and SOME quants fit the stereotype of protractor swinging social unadjusted geek. alot of them are. I am a quant to a certain extent as are many ETers, whether they know it or admit to it.
the reality is the majority of quants i know do make real good coin. they also choose to stay in the shadows. they prefer to be not to be the leading figure of a hedge fund and deal with the bureaucratic bs and fiduciary nightmares that entail the roll of the figurehead. they needn't bother. they have the power as they generate the tools the figure head feeds off of.
a quant can simply quantify his or her expectations of a market expectations. Quants develop and employ predictive strategies.
these strategies are generally heavily influenced by statistics and SOME quants fit the stereotype of protractor swinging social unadjusted geek. alot of them are. I am a quant to a certain extent as are many ETers, whether they know it or admit to it.
the reality is the majority of quants i know do make real good coin. they also choose to stay in the shadows. they prefer to be not to be the leading figure of a hedge fund and deal with the bureaucratic bs and fiduciary nightmares that entail the roll of the figurehead. they needn't bother. they have the power as they generate the tools the figure head feeds off of.