The search for alpha requires dealing in unknowns. Some are known unknowns; others we’re completely blind to. To make progress, we simplify, abstract and employ models (mental and/or quantitative), seeking enough evidence and confidence to allocate capital.
Even with terabytes stored in servers and observations over multiple decades, there’s actually very little data at our disposal in finance. Michael gives a fantastic presentation revealing the reasons why financial modeling is so hard—harder even than self-driving cars and diagnosing cancer.
Ed Rzeszowski (Blackrock) leads a panel exploring a variety of timely questions facing practitioners of quantitative investing strategies. The panel includes Michael Brandt (QMS Capital Management), Ewan Kirk (GAM Cantab Systematic) and Joshua Coval (Laurel Canyon Partners).
Analyzing scenarios and answering “What happens if?” is a subtly complex problem. Ewan walks through the technical challenges of such an exercise, revealing what’s gained, and also the new questions introduced, by foretesting.
In a world where a lot is mispriced by a little and little is mispriced by a lot, how should managers respond? Josh sees an important, thought provoking and fundamental tradeoff in this question.
Renewable energy and low carbon-technology are coming at an increasing rate and may have a serious impact on the underlying fundamentals in the capital markets. Jon Creyts, Managing Director of the Rocky Mountain Institute, offers his insights into the ways in which our future will be shaped by these changes and the implications it will have on current business models.
Starting in 2013 Domeyard did what today sounds impossible: build an investable HFT firm from scratch. The firm believes a meaningful part of its success is due to its highly flat managerial structure and diverse team. The unique culture allows them to attract talent in a highly competitive sector. In addition to establishing an appreciation for the technical challenges of HFT, Christina discusses talent acquisition and culture development as dimensions for competitive advantage.
Many are waking up to the ways in which the internet and social networking influence our actions and have created “behavior modification empires.” How did we get here and is there any hope of a redesign that will save us from our addictive selves? If this future vision includes the individual sovereignty of data, what are the implications for machine learning and big data algorithms?
While the media focuses on Bitcoin and it’s value as a digital store of value or censorship resistant global currency, many are building and investing in the future of the internet…not currencies. Olaf will discuss investing in internet protocols and how they will capture a majority of the value in a future built on decentralized, blockchain technology.
Following Jon’s presentation, a panel of commodity managers discuss the ways in which this technology will change the fundamentals of the energy related capital markets and over what time frame this could take place.
