Wall Street

I work on Wall Street as a quantitative analyst (aka "quant") for a high frequency trading firm. AMA

do you use gentoo

No, sadly

What's a woman?

do you use r

Why doesn't my dad love me?

Funny enough, I'm actually not bad. 6/7 I'd say. With money like I have, women come easy (there are loads of singles in NYC)

Communism will win.

I have in the past but most of my work now is in Python due to better library support for some internal software we use.

I can do many things. I can tell you when a stock will go up or down (nano seconds in the future, but still the future). I can show you more money than you've ever dreamed about! But I cant tell you why your dad doesn't love you. For that, I am sorry!

They're not worth it
They're disgusting and bleed from their cunt once a month
You're better off finding a sissy tranny and marrying him instead

how are we to know you aren't just pretending

Wouldn't that be great? Well while you're waiting in your mom's basement, I'll be up here in my high rise banging chicks and snorting coke.

>Quant
t. Just finished The Big Short

Would you make me a sandwich?

what are you doing in a tech anonymous imageboard?

Great movie! I watch it on occasion. It's good to keep the memory of 2008 alive.

No but if you do what I do you can pay a hooker to suck you off and make you a sandwich at the same time.

My job is very programming-centric. All I do is write code! (and generate charts, run simulations, train models, etc)

What does Hebrew dick taste like?

Jews? You get used to them. Everyone's a greedy son of a bitch here so they don't stand out at all.

That's it. You're promoted!

I know a Quant for Goldman. Freakishly smart, typed insanely fast, and got paid an unholy amount even as an intern.

Are they all like that?

Have you actually done that?

I mean not everyone is a good typist but ya you have to be very smart, very talented and very dedicated to this career. It pays well because that's the value a quant truly brings to the table.

And yes, most of my internships payed well over $100k if you multiplied my monthly pay by 12. Full time goes faaaaar beyond that haha.

I'm not much for drugs, but sex is nice ;)

What's your income, will you ever get married, will you have a mistress or concurrent maidsluts? Also how'd you get educated and started?

Income: Depends on the year. $1mil easily, best year was $5mil. I'm only a quant, not a partner. Partners and investors make way way more than I do.

Marriage: Maybe at some point. I've enjoyed being single and having one night stands.

Mistress: No never. I don't cheat

Maidsluts: If the misses approves, I don't see why not.

Education: I was in school for CS but dropped out. I instead became a REALLY good software engineer and then transitioned to an HFT firm that way. Once I was in I could prove my quant skills and then I was able to make an internal transfer, even though I didn't have a degree.

You can have sex in communism.

Lol ok, buddy. I like sex, I like money, I like fast cars and expensive clothes. I like being rich and I promise you too would like it if you were rich. Rich people don't want communism lmao.

what programming language are the HFT programs programmed in

and how much do you spend on meth per week

That's a relief to hear. The person I know from simply got hired on from winning a programming/math competition.

Good to know merit is still valued somewhere.

The live trading is done almost exclusively in C++. I'm sure some firms write Assembly but I personally have not had to deal with that living hell.

The algorithms, though, are originally developed and back tested on something higher level. Python, R, MatLab and others are used because speed is less of a concern than ease of use. It's easier to play with numbers when you have access to all of this syntactic sugar.

I don't do drugs other than weed and booze.

Getting a degree at a top school is way easier than the path I took, I promise you that much.

Why would you like a fast car is you would be stuck in traffic like everyboy else? Expensive clothing is just over-priced clothes and why would you need more than what you actually need?

I can take a helicopter to New Jersey and then drive my fast cars on the open road

Why? Why does anyone want anything? The fact that you have an internet connection shows you too want things beyond your basic needs. I just happen to have more lofty wants than you do.

can you send me some capital, thanks senpai desu

first half
1FpWvgqMe59BGKs1

second half
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I want to get into quand trading or quant development (not necessarily HFT).
Is a PhD in math or physics necessary?
Are people from CS backgrounds at a disadvantage?
I thought I'd finish my bachelor's degree in software eng, and try to get into a CS master's in something math-heavy like ML. Is that a decent plan?
Is there a huge difference in how quant analysts and traders are selected vs. how quant developers are selected?

how did you get started, and is it hard to make the jump from mechanical engineer to this? also how powerful are the machines you use, super computer level out less?

post tits

there are a lot of tip offs that OP is a larper and this is a bullshit thread

Such as?

Read this
see the above
Also, I have no idea. I've never been MechE. But I would say yes, it'll probably be very hard. But maybe you're super awesome! Give it a try.

Lol "supercomputer" means something very different from what I bet you think it means

isnt there a lot of traffic in new york? how can you even drive there?

see

>CS dropout got in an HFT firm
You got in as a quand dev right? How hard was it to make the jump from developer to trader?
Do you mean to say trading firms don't have degree requirements?
By "really good software engineer" you mean C++ expert?

do you use paralellisation to run your code? or can it all be run off single processors. is your job all signal analysis or is there more to it than that? from what I understand fluid dynamics backgrounds are popular for hft, because there's a lot of signal analysis in both

what python libraries do you use?

> You got in as a quand dev right? How hard was it to make the jump from developer to trader?

I was actually programming the platform itself, not a quant dev role. Pure software. And it was hard, but once you work with those people every day, it's not too bad. You just gotta show them what you can do!

> Do you mean to say trading firms don't have degree requirements?

It's a VERY rare case that someone can do what I did. I would say they require a degree, unless you can prove you didn't need it.

> By "really good software engineer" you mean C++ expert?

That's part of it (important for the interview). But also because I became a senior under 3 years (new grad at Amazon/Facebook/Google/Microsoft) and had strong references about my talent when I applied to trading firms.

>/biz/

The internet is a tool for communication. Communication is a need in my book.

>Pure software
Which is easier to get into than quant development?
How good at math are you?
>they require a degree
But the "mandatory PhD" thing is bullshit?

How did you go from being a CS dropout to a really good software engineer?

And they are not needs they are wants.

Since most of our strats are about speed, single threads are faster.

There's a lot to the job. Machine learning is of course important but we also do exploratory research based off our own speculation. Develop strats and back test them. But that's only a small part of it. So much of what we do is making small optimizations to our existing strats and it gets kinda dull.

> Which is easier to get into than quant development?

Yes. They'll hire software engineers without degrees if they are C++ experts. Then, once youre in the company, you get to work with everyone else. You become close to the quants, show them your skill and ask about a role transfer. You'll still have to reinterview, but you not having a degree won't stop them anymore because they already trust that you're skilled.

> How good at math are you?

I mean I've never won any competitions but I also never tried lol. If you think you can make it in this industry without a strong math background, you'll be stuck on the software side forever.

> But the "mandatory PhD" thing is bullshit?

It's "mandatory" in that it's the easiest and most common path. You'll have to overcome obstacles along the way if you don't have a PhD.

> How did you go from being a CS dropout to a really good software engineer?

Self study

Can you post a bank account statement or something to show you're not talking out your ass

what stops you from running the same code at home and keeping all the profit?

How does it feel to make an enormous amount of money off the backs of actual industries while providing nothing of actual use to society?

Also, how close are your offices physically to the trading floor? Is it true that there's an actual edge from being, say, a few miles away as opposed to a few hundred?

>not having a degree won't stop them anymore
>I've never won any competitions but I also never tried
Did you study math on your own as well when you made the move from software to trading?
What fields of math are the most important to know to get into these firms?
>easiest and most common path
In the company you work for, what is the ratio of PhDs that are hired compared to those who only hold an MSc?

>I work on Wall Street as a quantitative analyst (aka "quant") for a high frequency trading firm. AMA


What is your opinion on where FANG is going given the reaction to Google earnings today?
I care specifically about Netflix and I got in at $150/sh.

>Such as?

>I can take a helicopter to New Jersey and then drive my fast cars on the open road
Python, R, MatLab and others are used because speed is less of a concern than ease of use. It's easier to play with numbers when you have access to all of this syntactic sugar.
>Yes. They'll hire software engineers without degrees if they are C++ experts.

Infrastructure

Dude I would be in prison and a billion in debt if I was caught doing that. Plus I don't have access to the market direct lines nor is my computer as high powered. There's literally no way I could execute trades fast enough for the strategies to work.

Feels fucking fantastic!

The offices arent in the same place as the trading computers. The computers exist in the same building as the market with a direct connection to be as fast as possible. And yes, every inch of wire is more travel time and can make a difference. Any form of information advantage can help a firm turn a profit.

> Did you study math on your own as well when you made the move from software to trading?

Absolutely! I had to learn it somehow. MIT and Stanford have so many amazing lectures online. Plus other resources

> What fields of math are the most important to know to get into these firms?

Stats is probably the most important. But having a good, broad understanding of mathematics will only help you

> What is your opinion on where FANG is going given the reaction to Google earnings today?
I care specifically about Netflix and I got in at $150/sh.

Lol I'm not a day trader or a broker. I don't do research on individual companies and invest long for 20 years. I mean, I do that with m 401k but at work it's all about micro fluctuations. I don't care what the trend of a stock is if I can sell it for more money a few micro seconds later.

>I don't care what the trend of a stock is if I can sell it for more money a few micro seconds later.

But you guys are losing to index funds....lol

How does it feel to know that you'll be going out like Gaddaffi in a few years when the house of cards your kind has built finally collapses?

If I google quant analyst salaries they're about $150k
Earlier you mentioned 1 mill
Is the difference made up in bonuses?

;)

That's kind of low for salary but ya usually you get a few hundred grand base pay and then a yearly bonus that is way way more.

No, hedge funds and actively manged mutual funds are losing to index funds. OP is instead helping a firm trade on super short term stock price fluctuations - i.e a hundred thousand shares of stock X are currently trading for .1 cent below where they'll being trading in another half second, so his firm buys them and then sells them almost instantaneously. It's why talks about not providing any actual use to society. It's just leaching off of the investors in publicly traded companies, and isn't actually investing in those companies in any real sense.

Thanks. I was too lazy to reply lol

Is it true that wall street guys exist on a diet of raw chicken necks and franks red hot sauce.

Sure, why not

People have always taken advantage of market timing to invest.

how old are you?

12. NO wait! 11

How old are you?

The next crash is due soon, when do you think it will happen

Also is it worth it to invest if you only have a hundred dollars or so to invest a month.

Not quite like this, though. Market timing was generally based on an overall impression of a particular company or industry, or even the market more broadly. It involved - and still involves - looking for things that are undervalued compared to what your information and their fundamentals suggest, and buying accordingly.

High-frequency trading is basically entirely algorithmic and isn't based on an analysis of the underlying value of investments. I guess you could think of it as arbitrage but measured in micro-seconds.

I just turned 23 a couple days ago. I have an Associates of Science with honors. Beyond that though I've read hundreds of different books on finance, on my own time. I'm also a licensed Mortgage Loan Originator. I've been NEET for an entire year (wealthy family), but I did finish community college in that time.

Last job I had, I worked at a mortgage brokerage and got fired after 1 month, because the bosses ex-husband was applying for a loan, I saw his/her divorce decree in the paper, and saw that she was awarded 90% of the guys cash assets. Dude was making 400k a year, I went through his taxes. She knew that I saw her dirty laundry. She fired me and told me that I don't belong in the industry and that I smell bad. Is this what the adult world is like?

Ever since then, I've been pursuing IT, which I should have done in the first place. All my friends went into IT. One of them is a software engineer at Goldman, another one is a network engineer. My last 2 classes I took were an intro to programming and formal logic, which I got A's in.

All I want to know is... What does it take? What does it take to stick it out in IT and actually get fucking paid money? I'm so sick of constantly putting myself out there and getting rejected. My girlfriend is an OTA making 30$ an hour, and I sit at home all day studying for certs and improving my skills.

I'm so fucking tired of being NEET. I'm sick of not fucking earning money. I'm not lazy either, it's just that every twist and turn in my life in an attempt to better my situation has been decimated by narcissists in positions of authority above me.

Can you give me any advice OP? Any honest motivation? I've been studying for certs like 5+ hours, daily.

I'm not good at speculating such things. Though if it does happen, I hope Trump is still in office. That way both parties can be responsible for a major bank bail out!

I mean, sure? But if you already don't have a lot of money, I would first save up enough cash for an emergency fund

Did you really learn as much as a math major through Stanford and MIT OCW?
>Stats
Doesn't sound too hard.
I've heard about firms applying pretty much every kind of math to finance, is it common?

>She fired me and told me that I don't belong in the industry and that I smell bad. Is this what the adult world is like?

If you actually smell bad, then yes, this is what it's like. Take a shower every morning and you'll do better.

I genuinely can't tell if this is a real comment or some pasta that I just haven't seen yet

Pretty much, man. I mean I'm not young! It took me a long time to get here. And in that time I learned a lot on my own.

> I've heard about firms applying pretty much every kind of math to finance, is it common?

What?

He has a tripcode newfag, what else do you need?

This is my genuine comment. I'm serious. I'm actually heartfelt asking you for advice, because if your thread is serious, then you've made it.

I mean it didn't happen over night. Also, I didn't fail out of school. I was very good at school, it was simply boring for me. Please prove me wrong, but I don't think you'll ever be able to land a job at a top firm.

When the day comes and people are shoving you into the guillotine do you want to be face up or face down?

guzzle my cummies

c u @ centurion club

Face up. I want to see the sky as I die

How can I show I'm good at math? Should I just try and get some papers published?

I'm not even interested in working at a top firm. I'm not looking to make a million dollars per year. When my parents die, I will inherit multiple millions in cash and assets. That's in the far far future though.

I'm just tired of being NEET man. I'm literally just looking for something that I can earn like 80k~+ a year even, desu.

Do you have a degree?

If you just want money and you're a weeb, you can go teach English in Japan. Free housing and enough pay to cover other living expenses. Since you dont need to care about saving money for your future, maybe that's a valid path for you?

Otaku/weeb culture doesn't appeal to me at all. I haven't watched anime since I was 15.

It's upsetting seeing that I put in as much work into life as all of my other friends, and they've excelled ahead and they all have jobs.

I dunno. My current path is to get the comptia trifecta and see where that leads me. Maybe I'll get a department of defense job or something.

I'm just really tired of my current situation. Tired of my parents having to buy everything for me. Tired of sitting alone in my room.

I hope your life goes well man and you enjoy it, I mean that sincerely.

Yes in CS. I took putnam for fun and got 80 percentile.
Now there's no way to show I'm alright at math.

Maybe get an MFE?

what should i invest 20k in

and

on a scale of 10 to 10, how great is trump

If you only have 20k, keep it in cash. You may need it in an emergency

Trump is 1/10 as president but 10/10 as a presidential candidate. He was a lot of fun, but I never wanted him to win (didn't vote for him!) and he's shown pure incompetence since taking office.

>Quant
>On Sup Forums
Idiots falling for bait

What would you do if you lost a leg?

Ride in a wheel chair?

What if you lost an eye following such event?

you've lost all credibility.

Are these even useful

Do you have Jewish blood running in you, eternally searching and yearning for more shekels

Why is that so unbelievable? Quants aren't unicorns.

Not completely. But it gives you time to learn the math and helps you grow your network in the industry. Also allows you to apply for internships which are easier to get and you can convert those to full time

Nope. 100% English blood

Still there OP?
The way your posts read, you sound like a type a personality. Is that the kind of person companies like yours want for only your job, or across the board?