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Is it common to use prop trading strategies for trading a personal portfolio? Or do quants almost exclusively work at hedge funds

tdees40 11y ago
I've never met a quant trader trading for their own account. It requires some infrastructure that would be hard to justify unless you have lots of money to invest, and you're really good at it.
- Bostonian 11y ago
  It is common for successful quant traders to be partners (have equity) in their firms, which means they are "trading for their own account" to some extent.
  - dopamean 11y ago
    I think what he meant by "for their own account" was something smaller and personal. Not part of a larger pool containing hundreds of millions of dollars.
ddeck 11y ago
Definitely not common, but I run my own quant strategies for my own portfolio on a fully automated basis and have done so for several years. Every other quant develper/trader I've met works at a fund or sell-side firm.
- xedarius 11y ago
  Would you mind detailing the platform/portal that you use?
  - ddeck 11y ago
    Not sure what you mean by portal, but I wrote my own execution system that I run on a server located close to my broker and the exchanges. Market data is via a consolidated feed and execution via my broker to a variety of venues. I don't run any high frequency strategies so 100ms from exchange data to execution is fine for me. I use R for most research and strategy development.
    - xedarius 11y ago
      Ah sorry, I was interested in what broker you use for market connectivity. Also, are you able to detail where you source your market data from? Sounds like a really interesting setup I'd love to know more about it.
      - ddeck 11y ago
        I use IQFeed[1] for data. Despite their website, I've always found their product and developer support to be excellent given the price point. [1] https://www.iqfeed.net/ https://www.iqfeed.net/
        wagerlabs 11y ago
        Who do you use for execution? I wish I could use Interactive Brokers for server-side but, I think, that requires 100k and FIX connection.
    - fireblade 11y ago
      If you're making any consistent profits these days with such a primitive setup, you probably have some pretty fantastic insights that you could be selling to a hedge fund or bank
      - ddeck 11y ago
        The issue is strategy capacity. There are many more strategies that will generate consistent returns on a few million dollars than there are that will generate the same return on a hundred million dollars. This is a key advantage of being an individual and a problem every quant fund faces as they grow.

tdees40 11y ago

I've never met a quant trader trading for their own account. It requires some infrastructure that would be hard to justify unless you have lots of money to invest, and you're really good at it.

Bostonian 11y ago
It is common for successful quant traders to be partners (have equity) in their firms, which means they are "trading for their own account" to some extent.
- dopamean 11y ago
  I think what he meant by "for their own account" was something smaller and personal. Not part of a larger pool containing hundreds of millions of dollars.

ddeck 11y ago

Definitely not common, but I run my own quant strategies for my own portfolio on a fully automated basis and have done so for several years. Every other quant develper/trader I've met works at a fund or sell-side firm.

xedarius 11y ago
Would you mind detailing the platform/portal that you use?
- ddeck 11y ago
  Not sure what you mean by portal, but I wrote my own execution system that I run on a server located close to my broker and the exchanges. Market data is via a consolidated feed and execution via my broker to a variety of venues. I don't run any high frequency strategies so 100ms from exchange data to execution is fine for me. I use R for most research and strategy development.
  - xedarius 11y ago
    Ah sorry, I was interested in what broker you use for market connectivity. Also, are you able to detail where you source your market data from? Sounds like a really interesting setup I'd love to know more about it.
    - ddeck 11y ago
      I use IQFeed[1] for data. Despite their website, I've always found their product and developer support to be excellent given the price point. [1] https://www.iqfeed.net/ https://www.iqfeed.net/
      - wagerlabs 11y ago
        Who do you use for execution? I wish I could use Interactive Brokers for server-side but, I think, that requires 100k and FIX connection.
  - fireblade 11y ago
    If you're making any consistent profits these days with such a primitive setup, you probably have some pretty fantastic insights that you could be selling to a hedge fund or bank
    - ddeck 11y ago
      The issue is strategy capacity. There are many more strategies that will generate consistent returns on a few million dollars than there are that will generate the same return on a hundred million dollars. This is a key advantage of being an individual and a problem every quant fund faces as they grow.