What does a futures systems trader do next?
October 7, 2010 1:13 PM Subscribe
I was a futures systems developer, what should my next career be?
I need a new fulfilling career. I used to develop futures trading systems for my own use. It combined my background in computer science and finance. I really enjoyed it.
The things I liked about trading system development in order of importance:
1) Problem solving.
2) Creative: coming up with new ideas (algorithms) involved a lot of diverse fields: finance, human nature, economics, psychology, etc.
3) Community: lots of people passionate about it
4) Easy keeping score: your account balance goes up if you are right or down.
5) Math-y: it wasn't hard-core math, but it does involve some statistics and whatnot.
6) Iterative: debugging, tweaking, fine tuning were all fun.
Other points:
1) I'm not a great programmer. I don't program for programming sake.
2) It doesn't have to be a solo thing. I can hire help if needed.
3) I like problem solving but also really enjoy social engagement too. No lonely cubicles, if possible.
4) I like the idea of social capital and creating something helpful.
5) Trading is not that fun. I liked the fact that I controlled the computer and it did the trading.
Some examples of where my thinking has been lately to give some background:
1) game theory: and trying to incorporate it into everyday use, perhaps through the fields of negotiations
2) problem solving or decision-making web application
3) some other kind of prediction software - politics, social networks, etc.
4) becoming a VC or angel investor, but they seem sleazy.
What are other fields involving problem solving, creativity and possibly computers that are analogous to trading systems development? It's my first Ask and may be poorly done. Apologies if so.
I need a new fulfilling career. I used to develop futures trading systems for my own use. It combined my background in computer science and finance. I really enjoyed it.
The things I liked about trading system development in order of importance:
1) Problem solving.
2) Creative: coming up with new ideas (algorithms) involved a lot of diverse fields: finance, human nature, economics, psychology, etc.
3) Community: lots of people passionate about it
4) Easy keeping score: your account balance goes up if you are right or down.
5) Math-y: it wasn't hard-core math, but it does involve some statistics and whatnot.
6) Iterative: debugging, tweaking, fine tuning were all fun.
Other points:
1) I'm not a great programmer. I don't program for programming sake.
2) It doesn't have to be a solo thing. I can hire help if needed.
3) I like problem solving but also really enjoy social engagement too. No lonely cubicles, if possible.
4) I like the idea of social capital and creating something helpful.
5) Trading is not that fun. I liked the fact that I controlled the computer and it did the trading.
Some examples of where my thinking has been lately to give some background:
1) game theory: and trying to incorporate it into everyday use, perhaps through the fields of negotiations
2) problem solving or decision-making web application
3) some other kind of prediction software - politics, social networks, etc.
4) becoming a VC or angel investor, but they seem sleazy.
What are other fields involving problem solving, creativity and possibly computers that are analogous to trading systems development? It's my first Ask and may be poorly done. Apologies if so.
Do you want to develop a toy, or something that is actually competitive in today's electronic markets? There's a huge difference there, and the skill set for the later involves an understanding of everything from low-level hardware details (what's the most efficient way to allocate memory to reduce access latency on NUMA), networking (how many microseconds is my switching layer adding to latency), up to quant finance (what's the correlation between the eurodollars and fx futures). If you understand all of the later, you'll make upwards of $500k at a good prop shop.
Disclaimer: I'm involved in HFT at one of the top firms, so you can assume I'm just out to get you.
posted by ExpertWitness at 6:03 PM on October 7, 2010
Disclaimer: I'm involved in HFT at one of the top firms, so you can assume I'm just out to get you.
posted by ExpertWitness at 6:03 PM on October 7, 2010
Computer readable and analyzable legal contracts and financial instruments, aka Smart Contracts
posted by at at 6:08 PM on October 7, 2010
posted by at at 6:08 PM on October 7, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks everyone.
ExpertWitness: HFT would be the logical next step. Unfortunately I'm a recently converted Malkiel-ite. It's hard to trade when deep down you suspect there is mostly a random walk. You could argue that I just wasn't doing it right then - totally fair.
at: great suggestion that I wouldn't have come to on my own.
posted by acheekymonkey at 6:49 PM on October 7, 2010
ExpertWitness: HFT would be the logical next step. Unfortunately I'm a recently converted Malkiel-ite. It's hard to trade when deep down you suspect there is mostly a random walk. You could argue that I just wasn't doing it right then - totally fair.
at: great suggestion that I wouldn't have come to on my own.
posted by acheekymonkey at 6:49 PM on October 7, 2010
HFT basically goes away as soon as they implement 50ms min cancels or an exchange steps up and does a 1-minute continuous auction through the day. Im in 'the business' and wouldn't invest the time there now to become good.
posted by H. Roark at 9:35 PM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by H. Roark at 9:35 PM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
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Interesting but its stressful and you have to be super strict with your coding - nobody wants to lose money :-)
The architecture is similar to web development. Clients use a front end and a back end that does the processing.
I'm thinking of moving toward web or mobile development myself.
There is more creativity involved I think in general.
Plus it tends to be more forgiving as far as errors go.
On the other hand, it may not pay as much unless you're one of the best. And things seem to get outsourced a lot these days so try to find skill sets that are not only in demand but something that not just anybody can do.
posted by simpleton at 3:35 PM on October 7, 2010