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Quick hot take: when the project has a Venmo QR code for soliciting donations, you can safely assume they have not actually figured out how to make lots of mone

Quick hot take: when the project has a Venmo QR code for soliciting donations, you can safely assume they have not actually figured out how to make lots of money on the securities markets. Which is not me looking to trash it. I'd just encourage people to be aware of the context. This is an academic project which has apparently only been tested on hindcast data. Real life trading may present challenges that were well outside their scope of research.

nightski 5y ago
I'd agree with the skepticism. That said, it takes a minimum of 25k to get started using something like this in the real world due to the PDT rule (honestly more than that so you don't dip below 25k). It's possible they just aren't ready to throw that kind of capital at it yet. Also even if they aren't using real money that does not mean they are limited to historical data. You can run algos on live data even without actively trading. What you don't get is how your actions affect the market itself.
- pid-1 5y ago
  > Also even if they aren't using real money that does not mean they are limited to historical data. You can run algos on live data even without actively trading. What you don't get is how your actions affect the market itself. That equals to useless toy software in my book. But it's just my opinion. Edit: Look, I don't want to trash the devs for no reason, but the amount of "finance" academic stuff that claims to produce successful strategies is just ridiculous. At some point people just get tired.
  - nightski 5y ago
    You may well be right that it's a toy (and judging from their docs it seems like it), but it's basically the first step in using an algo for trading. You always test on live market feeds first.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- charcircuit 5y ago
  Investopedia says that it only required when day trading on margin. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/patterndaytrader.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/patterndaytrader.asp
  - nightski 5y ago
    Cash settlements take several days. So while that is correct, a margin account let's you use funds from the sale of a stock immediately instead of waiting for the settlement to occur. You aren't taking out any margin (with interest) in this case, just using the funds you already have (but haven't settled). Otherwise a cash account limits how much you can trade very quickly since you are waiting on trades to settle.
  - nickles 5y ago
    Equities settle T+2. Without a margin account, Reg T requires that cash be tied up until a trade is settled. It’s not viable to day trade like that.
    - charcircuit 5y ago
      Doesn't the exchange match people with another person who is buying / selling it? Every single cryptocurrency or video game exchange I have used has settled pretty much instantly. How hard is decrementing the shares of one user and incrementing the shares of another.
      - v0idzer0 5y ago
        > How hard is decrementing the shares of one user and incrementing the shares of another. whose database are you incrementing/decrementing in? Real life stock trades happen across multiple exchanges with multiple intermediaries (brokers, market makers, end users). Without a blockchain, this is not trivial to coordinate safely
        charcircuit 5y ago
        >whose database are you incrementing/decrementing in Your own. An an exchange you own 10 total shares and in your database you store who those 10 shares belong to.
- Galanwe 5y ago
  What's presented here is not a full blown strategy, it's just a framework for building signals (+ some of example signals) from which a strategy could be built, or to complement an existing strategy. The signals presented are too weak to beat their cost and OF to generate money if traded, you would need at least 50 others blended together. Its like listening to a bass player alone and thinking "I should put that guy in a live concert, he will earn millions", while the reality is you would need a guitarist, a drummer, a singer, etc.

nightski 5y ago

I'd agree with the skepticism. That said, it takes a minimum of 25k to get started using something like this in the real world due to the PDT rule (honestly more than that so you don't dip below 25k). It's possible they just aren't ready to throw that kind of capital at it yet. Also even if they aren't using real money that does not mean they are limited to historical data. You can run algos on live data even without actively trading. What you don't get is how your actions affect the market itself.

pid-1 5y ago
> Also even if they aren't using real money that does not mean they are limited to historical data. You can run algos on live data even without actively trading. What you don't get is how your actions affect the market itself. That equals to useless toy software in my book. But it's just my opinion. Edit: Look, I don't want to trash the devs for no reason, but the amount of "finance" academic stuff that claims to produce successful strategies is just ridiculous. At some point people just get tired.
- nightski 5y ago
  You may well be right that it's a toy (and judging from their docs it seems like it), but it's basically the first step in using an algo for trading. You always test on live market feeds first.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
charcircuit 5y ago
Investopedia says that it only required when day trading on margin. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/patterndaytrader.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/patterndaytrader.asp
- nightski 5y ago
  Cash settlements take several days. So while that is correct, a margin account let's you use funds from the sale of a stock immediately instead of waiting for the settlement to occur. You aren't taking out any margin (with interest) in this case, just using the funds you already have (but haven't settled). Otherwise a cash account limits how much you can trade very quickly since you are waiting on trades to settle.
- nickles 5y ago
  Equities settle T+2. Without a margin account, Reg T requires that cash be tied up until a trade is settled. It’s not viable to day trade like that.
  - charcircuit 5y ago
    Doesn't the exchange match people with another person who is buying / selling it? Every single cryptocurrency or video game exchange I have used has settled pretty much instantly. How hard is decrementing the shares of one user and incrementing the shares of another.
    - v0idzer0 5y ago
      > How hard is decrementing the shares of one user and incrementing the shares of another. whose database are you incrementing/decrementing in? Real life stock trades happen across multiple exchanges with multiple intermediaries (brokers, market makers, end users). Without a blockchain, this is not trivial to coordinate safely
      - charcircuit 5y ago
        >whose database are you incrementing/decrementing in Your own. An an exchange you own 10 total shares and in your database you store who those 10 shares belong to.
Galanwe 5y ago
What's presented here is not a full blown strategy, it's just a framework for building signals (+ some of example signals) from which a strategy could be built, or to complement an existing strategy. The signals presented are too weak to beat their cost and OF to generate money if traded, you would need at least 50 others blended together. Its like listening to a bass player alone and thinking "I should put that guy in a live concert, he will earn millions", while the reality is you would need a guitarist, a drummer, a singer, etc.