4 ms·

If that was the case, why use Python in the first place?

dmoy 1y ago
Well there's gonna be people writing code who can't do it in say a high performance C/C++ setup. Not professional programmers, but professional <some finance discipline>. Sometimes it will be worth the tradeoff to put that person and a programmer together to code up a solution in another language. Sometimes it will be worth it to have the non-programmer write it in Python and then do Herculean things in the background to make it fast enough.
- instig007 1y ago
  > Sometimes it will be worth it to have the non-programmer write it in Python and then do Herculean things in the background to make it fast enough. Nim exists, Crystal exists
  - dmoy 1y ago
    It would not surprise me if some shops end up using less common languages to fill a niche (or hell, invent their own DSL). But it also wouldn't surprise me if a lot of shops land on python because that's what their hiring pool knows.
  - skeledrew 1y ago
    With insignificant ecosystems, compared to Python.
- procaryote 1y ago
  The gulf between high performance C/C++ and Python is vast and includes most other programming languages, many of which are friendly to write or can be made friendly to write for a limited domain, with significantly less rocket science needed than making python faster.
mhh__ 1y ago
It's not uncommon to have a fast core and then an API that alpha / research teams feed signals into if you are someone like HRT I presume the bulk of their money comes at very short holding periods so you have e.g. fast signals that work short term and then mid frequency alpha signals that spit out a forecast over a few timeframes i.e. it might not be that they buy (aggressively) really quickly but rather than someone sells to them and then they hold onto the position for longer than they would if they have no opinions. Similarly this shapes where you post your orders e.g. if you really want it then you want to be top of the book
pgwhalen 1y ago
Even at the speediest trading firms, the large majority of code is not latency sensitive. Systems and algos are structured such that the fast acting stuff is simple and contained.
- dumah 1y ago
  There’s tons of latency sensitive code outside of the FPGA systems and it is not simple.
kristjansson 1y ago
They’re not doing the fast stuff in python; nevertheless it’s worth their engineering to make the parts they do in python fast

dmoy 1y ago

Well there's gonna be people writing code who can't do it in say a high performance C/C++ setup. Not professional programmers, but professional <some finance discipline>. Sometimes it will be worth the tradeoff to put that person and a programmer together to code up a solution in another language. Sometimes it will be worth it to have the non-programmer write it in Python and then do Herculean things in the background to make it fast enough.

instig007 1y ago
> Sometimes it will be worth it to have the non-programmer write it in Python and then do Herculean things in the background to make it fast enough. Nim exists, Crystal exists
- dmoy 1y ago
  It would not surprise me if some shops end up using less common languages to fill a niche (or hell, invent their own DSL). But it also wouldn't surprise me if a lot of shops land on python because that's what their hiring pool knows.
- skeledrew 1y ago
  With insignificant ecosystems, compared to Python.
procaryote 1y ago
The gulf between high performance C/C++ and Python is vast and includes most other programming languages, many of which are friendly to write or can be made friendly to write for a limited domain, with significantly less rocket science needed than making python faster.

mhh__ 1y ago

It's not uncommon to have a fast core and then an API that alpha / research teams feed signals into if you are someone like HRT I presume the bulk of their money comes at very short holding periods so you have e.g. fast signals that work short term and then mid frequency alpha signals that spit out a forecast over a few timeframes i.e. it might not be that they buy (aggressively) really quickly but rather than someone sells to them and then they hold onto the position for longer than they would if they have no opinions. Similarly this shapes where you post your orders e.g. if you really want it then you want to be top of the book

pgwhalen 1y ago

Even at the speediest trading firms, the large majority of code is not latency sensitive. Systems and algos are structured such that the fast acting stuff is simple and contained.

dumah 1y ago
There’s tons of latency sensitive code outside of the FPGA systems and it is not simple.

kristjansson 1y ago

They’re not doing the fast stuff in python; nevertheless it’s worth their engineering to make the parts they do in python fast