[HN Gopher] Most important papers for quantitative traders
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       Most important papers for quantitative traders
        
       Author : Anon84
       Score  : 120 points
       Date   : 2023-06-01 17:39 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.qmr.ai)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.qmr.ai)
        
       | dia80 wrote:
       | Quant trader here... I'm a big seller of this list. Making money
       | tends to be a relatively empirical endeavor. It's all about
       | having information about the future and using that in judiciously
       | way and less so about any particular theory or model. I see
       | someone else mentioning Grinold and Khan "Active Portfolio
       | Management", I can't recommend it enough, it's basically a how to
       | for making money quantitatively in a principled way, there are
       | lots of "tips and tricks" that go on top of this and it really
       | helps to have some good intuition for the space you are trying to
       | operate in (by that I mean understanding the eigenvalues and
       | eigenvectors of your risk matrix). T-costs are also extremely
       | important and the main "enemy" it's trivial to make money if you
       | don't have to pay to trade.
       | 
       | Steven Boyd at Stanford and his students / colleagues are
       | probably the richest seam of up to date portfolio optimization
       | wisdom. If you are using python you shoult probably be using
       | CVXPY to build your portfolio. He has lots of good papers, e.g.
       | see [2].
       | 
       | Of course you also need an "edge", that information about the
       | future, and that's the jealously guarded part...
       | 
       | [1]
       | https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Active_Portfolio_Mana...
       | 
       | [2] https://stanford.edu/~boyd/papers/pdf/cvx_portfolio.pdf
        
       | tmsh wrote:
       | Stephen Ross
       | (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Ross_(economist) )'s books
       | on APT / CAPM are pretty good too imho.
        
         | a_c wrote:
         | Can you share the books that you are referring to? A quick
         | search on
         | https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/169424.Stephen_A_Ross
         | didn't seem to turn up relevant results
        
       | satellite2 wrote:
       | I stopped at the table of content but the bibliography covers
       | what any introductory finance 101 course would cover. I
       | interpreted the title as suggesting there was a bit of novelty in
       | there so it's a bit disappointing.
       | 
       | Without the above papers you cannot invest while claiming doing
       | anything else than playing at a casino. But it's clearly not
       | sufficient to design a profitable quantitative strategy in 2023.
        
         | NickC25 wrote:
         | >Without the above papers you cannot invest while claiming
         | doing anything else than playing at a casino.
         | 
         | I don't think that's a fair statement, although I agree with
         | the overall sentiment. Maybe the right term instead of "invest"
         | would be "actively trade". Putting a chunk of change into long-
         | term positions (especially stock) on large profitable companies
         | as well as indexes and dividend-generating equities with a view
         | towards cashing out in 30-40 years (and semi-actively
         | monitoring said portfolio) isn't really the same as playing at
         | a casino. If I'm looking for a 10-30% return in a day or a
         | week, yeah, that's playing at a casino. If I'm looking for
         | 7-10% a year, that's just me protecting my money against
         | inflation.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | smabie wrote:
         | Yeah these are classic quant finance papers, but all in all not
         | super helpful for anything except a basic foundation.
        
       | mo_42 wrote:
       | The author seems to imply that there's a Nobel Prize in
       | economics. There is no such prize. There's only: Sveriges
       | Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
        
         | sdfghswe wrote:
         | akshually....
        
         | Kranar wrote:
         | What you mention is the Nobel Prize in economics, it's the same
         | thing. It wasn't one of the original prizes set out in Nobel's
         | will, but it is awarded by the same institution and follows the
         | same procedure.
         | 
         | Only an absolute pedant who is looking to argue trivialities
         | would bicker over the name of "Nobel Prize in Economics" vs.
         | "Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of
         | Alfred Nobel".
         | 
         | [1] https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-prizes-in-
         | econom...
        
           | brickteacup wrote:
           | > Only an absolute pedant who is looking to argue
           | trivialities would bicker over the name of "Nobel Prize in
           | Economics" vs. "Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences
           | in Memory of Alfred Nobel".
           | 
           | well this _is_ HN after all
        
           | cgio wrote:
           | There is some value to being pedantic. I did not know this
           | fact about the economics Nobel and now I do.
        
           | ants_everywhere wrote:
           | > absolute pedant who is looking to argue trivialities would
           | bicker
           | 
           | Well, yes it's a more than a little pedantic, but I think
           | your statement may be too strong.
           | 
           | For example, at least one member of the Nobel family has
           | objected to using their name on the prize:
           | 
           | > Nobel accuses the awarding institution of misusing his
           | family's name, and states that no member of the Nobel family
           | has ever had the intention of establishing a prize in
           | economics. [from Wikipedia]
           | 
           | Also, while it's true that they're administered similarly, it
           | also is true that they are funded from different sources. The
           | Economics prize is funded by the (100% state-owned) central
           | bank of a monarchy. Does that matter? Maybe not, but it's
           | certainly a bit smelly and some of their picks in the past
           | don't seem entirely justifiable solely on academic merit.
        
           | mo_42 wrote:
           | If you would establish a price and someone would pick up your
           | name for another price, would that make you happy?
           | 
           | Alfred Nobel did not establish a price in economics. So IMHO
           | this price should not have his name. Sure, the official name
           | is a bit bulky. We can certainly find something more
           | appropriate.
        
             | Satam wrote:
             | Tesla did not establish electric veichile company and Max
             | Planck did not, in fact, erect a building in my
             | university's square.
        
             | Kranar wrote:
             | It's not a random person who picked up the name. Nobel
             | established the various prizes in his will to be
             | administered by certain committees and it is one of those
             | committees that added the prize in economics to be awarded
             | under the same criteria and at the same time as the other
             | prizes.
             | 
             | It is definitely notable that that the prize in economics
             | is not one of the original prizes and I would never argue
             | that it is. But acting like there is no strong relationship
             | between the two that one would claim that a Nobel Prize in
             | economics just doesn't exist is I think misguided. There is
             | such a prize, it is not one of the original prizes and does
             | have a different history, but it is strongly related to the
             | other prizes.
        
         | abetusk wrote:
         | "... it is commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in
         | Economics." [0]
         | 
         | [0]
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Memorial_Prize_in_Econom...
        
       | martinmayer wrote:
       | Hey there! I'm the author of the article. I just arrived here
       | because I saw a crazy uptick on google analytics. I'm glad most
       | of you liked the article.
        
       | conformist wrote:
       | Probably better to learn the basics and get a good overview, eg
       | by reading Grinold & Kahn instead:
       | 
       | https://books.google.com/books/about/Active_Portfolio_Manage...
        
         | nsriv wrote:
         | Went looking for this on your recommendation and found that
         | there is an updated version/follow-on text, linking here for
         | anyone else that may find it useful:
         | 
         | https://www.google.com/books/edition/Advances_in_Active_Port...
        
       | starchild_3001 wrote:
       | Thanks for sharing! My list of 12 most useful resources for
       | machine learning quants can be found here:
       | http://gokhanmergen.com/quantBibliography.html
       | 
       | This list was compiled in 2009 before I took a full time job in
       | an algorithmic trading company, but it's still relevant :) If
       | anything ML is more relevant than ever in trading, except perhaps
       | Deep Neural Nets, Transformers, Large Language Models etc are the
       | norm today.
        
       | oersted wrote:
       | I found other impactful and more recent papers via MirrorThink.ai
       | that discuss various aspects of quantitative finance, trading,
       | optimal execution, energy prices, GARCH, option valuation,
       | portfolio selection, Kelly Criterion, Capital Asset Pricing
       | Model, optimal trading signals, Efficient Market Hypothesis,
       | Black-Scholes model, and market overreaction. Here are some key
       | findings from these papers:
       | 
       | 1. Portfolio Optimization-Based Stock Prediction Using Long-Short
       | Term Memory Network in Quantitative Trading (Published on
       | 2020-01-07) - This paper discusses the use of Long-Short Term
       | Memory (LSTM) networks in quantitative trading to minimize risk
       | and maximize return based on historical performance. It
       | highlights the benefits of quantitative trading, such as lower
       | commissions, anonymity, control, discipline, transparency,
       | access, competition, and reduced transaction costs.
       | 
       | 2. A Markov-Switching VSTOXX Trading Algorithm for Enhancing EUR
       | Stock Portfolio Performance (Published on 2021-05-02) - This
       | paper presents a Markov-switching trading algorithm that uses the
       | VSTOXX index to enhance the performance of a EUR stock portfolio.
       | The algorithm is based on the mean-variance portfolio selection,
       | which aims to maximize the Sharpe ratio.
       | 
       | 3. Price discovery in the cryptocurrency option market: A
       | univariate GARCH approach (Published on 2020-08-31) - This paper
       | applies two different GARCH processes to Bitcoin and CRIX,
       | showing that the GARCH(1,1) option pricing model provides
       | realistic price discovery within the bid-ask prices suggested by
       | the market.
       | 
       | 4. The Capital Asset Pricing Model (Published on 2021-09-03) -
       | This paper discusses the evolution of the Capital Asset Pricing
       | Model (CAPM) and its connection to behavioral accounts of
       | evolutionary asset pricing, segmented markets, multifractality,
       | and the fractal market hypothesis. It highlights the importance
       | of considering heterogeneity among investors and the implications
       | for the efficient market hypothesis.
       | 
       | [1] https://doi.org/10.3390/app10020437
       | 
       | [2] https://doi.org/10.3390/math9091030
       | 
       | [3] https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2020.1803524
       | 
       | [4] https://doi.org/10.3390/encyclopedia1030070
        
       | mydriasis wrote:
       | This is what I wanted to do when I was getting my math degree! I
       | wanted to be a quant. Things went a different direction and I'm a
       | programmer now. Is there any hope for me? Think I could still
       | chase it down in my spare time, or is it something I need, say, a
       | master's degree for?
        
         | rgbgraph wrote:
         | You will be better off going independent, than trying to break
         | into the industry (unless your PhD was from a top program, and
         | you're on the younger side).
         | 
         | In that vein, Ernest P. Chan's books will give you the toolkit
         | to begin, and then you can figure out the rest as-needed.
         | _Quantitative Trading_ (2nd), Chan I believe is the first in
         | the series. _Algorithmic Trading_ I believe is the second. And
         | _Machine Trading_ is the last.
        
           | mydriasis wrote:
           | That's awesome, I appreciate it. Do I need a ton of money to
           | start off? Is it better _not_ to have a lot of money to start
           | off to create less trouble for myself?
        
             | chasd00 wrote:
             | > Do I need a ton of money to start off?
             | 
             | well the best way to make a small fortune is to start with
             | a large fortune ;)
        
             | ladberg wrote:
             | I'd heavily advise _not_ to do what they 're recommending,
             | and try out applying to trading firms if you want to break
             | into the industry.
             | 
             | I work at a trading firm and a decent number of our quants
             | were all just programmers beforehand with no trading
             | experience. Additionally, there's no downside to applying
             | to a bunch of them and seeing if you get an offer, but
             | there's a HUGE downside to gambling your own money in a
             | field you don't understand.
             | 
             | You could also do what I did and apply for a normal
             | programmer role at a trading firm. Then you'll get some
             | exposure to the quant world and if you want, you can try to
             | pivot internally (I haven't done the last part and am not
             | super interested, but plenty of people I know have).
        
               | [deleted]
        
         | martinmayer wrote:
         | Hi there! I'm the author of the article.If you have a
         | programming skills and a mathematics background, it is possible
         | to break into the industry. Even better if your current role is
         | as a data scientist of machine learning engineer.
         | 
         | I work as a quant on a second tier hedge fund. The pool of
         | potential firms is actually pretty big, but most people think
         | that the only shops out there are citadel, two sigma or
         | rentech. That is definitely not the case, and the salaries are
         | still excellent (comparable to FAANG).
        
       | FailMore wrote:
       | Commenting to remind myself later
        
         | Faaak wrote:
         | FYI, you can click on the "favorite" button to add it to your
         | list
        
       | lockdown22 wrote:
       | Nice article, I'll definitely read some of the outlined books.
       | Thanks for sharing.
       | 
       | My personal experience is that you don't need to fully understand
       | the Black Scholes Pricing model in order to trade profitable
       | options.
       | 
       | As an example consider the public income trades, such as NetZero,
       | Boxcar, M3, Theta Engine. Trading those doesn't require you to
       | understand how Implied Volatility.
       | 
       | One can argue, however, that selling options and hedging them
       | isn't the 'Quant way' of profiting from options.
        
         | JackFr wrote:
         | The Black Scholes paper is actually pretty difficult, and not
         | terribly rewarding with respect to developing intuition. To
         | develop the intuition, get a full handle on put-call parity,
         | the construction of replicating portfolios, and then risk-
         | neutral pricing. Additionally, always have an eye on the
         | intrinsic value, time value and insurance value of options and
         | how they move with respect to the options characteristics.
        
       | rgbgraph wrote:
       | Table of contents? Blast from the SEO spam of the past.
       | 
       | Snark aside, very decent bibliography for the intended audience:
       | independent traders who are building automated trading programs
       | for their personal accounts.
        
       | Mochila wrote:
       | I cannot open the link
        
         | novosel wrote:
         | No problem here.
         | 
         | https://archive.is/DCm8e
        
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