Monday, January 12, 2015

Maximum Moral Hazard--Calling All Math Pros: Quantopian Just Launched an Algorithm Competition

Dreamtime finance: All the upside, none of the downside.
From BostonInno:
The winner gets $100,000. [to manage]

Got a trading idea you want to try out before putting any money on the line? That’s where algorithmic investing comes in. It’s one of the most valuable Wall Street tactics to beat the market—unfortunately, this so-called secret weapon typically comes at a high price.
Quantopian, a crowdsourced hedge fund based in Boston that raised $15 million in October, aims to make that strategy more accessible. By offering a platform to test out different algorithms before you put any money on the line, Quantopian empowers you to make smarter, more data-driven decisions instead of relying solely on emotion.

As the startup’s mission is, naturally, to attract the best algorithmic and financial talent in the world, it’s launching a new competition. Already, there are more than 25,000 quants in the company’s community. Now, The Quantopian Open aims to put math-minded peoples’ skills to the test.
 
And you don’t have to be a quant, or even an investment pro, to participate. As long as you think you can apply mathematical or statistical methods to financial and risk management problems, you may have a shot. The company’s platform provides all the tools you need to build, test and execute your algorithms.

Here’s how it works. Write and backtest your algorithm. Submit it before the market opens Feb. 2. There’s no fee to enter, and you can submit three algorithms at a time. Quantopian will post a leaderboard that scores all submissions daily. On Feb. 28, the winning algorithm will be selected based on a combination of performance criteria, and awarded $100,000 to manage for six months....MORE