Tuesday, N0vember24th, 2015 | TechNeWS campu5@technewsiit_com I 3:!ili i : EEI 5

Princeton, Illinois Tech, U Chicago host quantitative trading conference

Shachi Sayata
TECH NEWS WRITER

November 7 was a pivotal day for
all quantitative trading enthusiasts since it
marked the day of perhaps the most important
conference in the field Princeton University,
Illinois Institute of Technology and University
of Chicago collaborate twice a year in order
to organize this highlyeintellectual event
This fall, it was conducted at Illinois Tech’s
downtown campus and was attended by a
large number of students from all over the
country The speakers of this year’s conference
included the who’s who of the finance industry
like Blair Hull from Hull Trading Company,
Daniel Nehren from Citadel, Ingrid Tierens
from Goldman Sachs and Jess Stauth from
Quantopian to name a few

It was a great learning opportunity
for all students and was more like an
intensive trading workshop than just merely
a conference A wide array of subjects were
explored during the conference like risk
management, quantitative modeling, high
frequency trading, and algorithmic tradingr
It had three intensive sessions conducted by
over 20 speakers A detailed brochure was
provided at the beginning of the conference
to all attendees that contained information
regarding the speakers as well as their topic of
presentation

The keynote speaker Micheal
Li acted as the session chair and provided
the attendees with a brief overview of the
conference This was followed by a presentation
titled “Execution as a critical component of the
investment process" by Daniel Nehren, who is
the Managing Director at Citadel He spoke
about how the liquidity landscape today has

  

QU ANT
TRADING

  

become more complex than before because
of the number of instruments in the market
and interlinked factors that influence these
instruments Technology has indeed made
things more sophisticated but there remains
a critical need to acquire a holistic View on
liquidity At the end of the day it all boils down
to a single question, “Who has more alpha?" He
was able to distinguish between the execution
strategies on the buy side and sell side and
emphasized on the importance of having a
good execution strategy He remarked, “Unless
finance ends, you always have to do execution
You always have to do it and you always have to
do it better”

Blair Hull, who is on the list of “Wall Street’s 25
Smartest Players" by Worth Magazine, was also
a speaker at the conference He spoke about
market timing and the influence of big data
and machine learning in the finance industry
He declared, “Just as it was considered
irresponsible to time the market in the last
30 years, it will be considered irresponsible
to NOT time the market in the next 30 years”
His presentation focused on how today, with
the aid of data science, we are able to be more
systematic in our trading strategies

The conference alsohad international
speakers like Adil Reghai from Natixis who
showcased a strong parallel between modeling
in physics and finance He explained that
although the two fields are similar, finance is
more dynamic than the counterpart During
his presentation, he emphasized the idea that,
as traders, we must understand what and why
we are investing because in today’s landscape
there are black swans in the field of finance
everywhere Thus, back testing is important,

but not enough

Ingrid Tierens from Goldman
Sachs promoted the strategy of conducting
“structured experiments" rather than relying
on back testing to enhance the performance of
investor strategies She emphasized that these
structured experiments should be randomized
as much as possible to obtain unbiased
conclusions Though algorithm trading
strategies are the same and are well known
across the industry, they can we tweaked
significantly in order to achieve competitive
advantage

The conference had young
entrepreneurs like Christina Qi who is co,
founder of Domeyard, a highefrequency
trading firm that has a hedgeefund structure
She focused her presentation on electronic
market making the importance of data
science in the field of finance With the aid
of sophisticated data science technologies,
today we are able to analyze financial data
and provide clear predictions There is thus
a necessity to do a costebenefit tradeeoff
and think outside the box in order to obtain
efficiencies

Lloyd Foster of Foster Colley spoke
on practical risk management The field of
quantitative trading is an amalgamation of
concepts of economics and mathematics
However, the most fundamental issue a
quantitative trader faces is the temptation
to sweep the economics aside when the
mathematics in the underlying model becomes
more interesting He emphasized on the
importance of avoiding such instinct Further,
there are limits that financial models have and
it is of utmost importance that these limits are
understood He also explained the importance

of human intervention in the field of
quantitative trading, especially in case of crisis
where preespecified procedures delegated to
preespecified people must be followed

There was an informal session
organized during the lunch titled “Women in
Quant Finance" The speakers included Edith
Mandel from Greenwich Street Advisors,
Christina Qi from Domeyard, Jess Stauth
from Quantopian, and Ingrid Tierens from
Goldman Sachs The speakers engaged in an
open discussion about their journey into their
specific roles, their motivation to work in a
maleedominated trading industry and their
learning experiences They also discussed
their entrepreneurial journeys and factors that
were pivotal in their personal and professional
growth

The conference was indeed a
memorable experience since it was able to
provide a holistic View of the quantitative
trading industry The expertise and experience
of the speakers were unmatched However,
to the dismay of attendees, it was impossible
to attend all of the sessions The conference
is strongly recommended to anyone with
an interest in quantitative trading and
development It is a great platform to facilitate
exchange of ideas and discover latest trends
in the industry The speakers were open to
answer questions or concerns students had
Most speakers were amazed about how well
prepared the students were and expressed their
desire to promote the conference as a great
place to recruit young talent Students can
look forward to attending the next conference,
which will take place at Princeton University
during the spring semester

 

Phntns 17y Shachi Sayata

ae@technewsiit.com .:!:E! 3

Husky Hog BBQ

to close

Bridgeport location Wednesday

Kori Bowns
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Bridgeport is home to many IIT students,
and even those who don’t live there often
visit the neighborhood’s local coffee shops
and restaurants To the dismay of many
students, neighborhood favorite Husky Hog
BBQ will be closing its doors this Wednesday,
November 25,

Husky Hog BBQ began as apopular
Chicago food truck that opened a brickeande
mortar restaurant at 335 W 31st Street in
Bridgeport during the summer of 2014, The
passionate owners and chefs at Husky Hog
brought southernestyle barbecue to their
small neighborhood spot and quickly became
a local favorite

Husky Hog’s menu features a variety
of specialty sandwiches as well as portions of
pulled pork, beef brisket, shredded chicken,
and burnt ends that can be purchased in
increments of a quarterepound, each coming
with slider buns The restaurant also often
offered a variety of unique specials as well
as served baby back ribs every weekend,
occasionally selling out due to demand In
addition to the delicious barbecue staples
that Husky Hog offered, the restaurant’s
side dishes rounded out the experience and
offered something for everyone, whether it
be macaroni and cheese, bacon baked beans,
hush puppies, or their tater tots, which are the

best this writer has ever had

A variety of homemade sauces also
complement the menu at Husky Hog, many
of which are still available for purchase during
the restaurant’s final week for enthusiasts who
cannot imagine a world without Husky Hog’s
classic barbecue sauce or Alabama sauce
(myself included),

The restaurant announced via
social media last Wednesday that its physical
location would be closing after their last
day on November 25, According to the
announcement, the popular Husky Hog food
truck will be returning to Chicago streets in
the spring of 2016, The announcement also
ended on a positive note, saying, “Husky Hog
BBQ will rise again, and it will be awesome!"

Since the announcement, the
restauranthas been attracting many customers
who wish to get a taste before its doors close
During the evenings, Husky Hog’s small
dining room has been full to capacity, even
during the city’s recent snowfall,

With only two days remaining
until the restaurant closes, members of the
IIT community have little time to swing by to
pick up their favorite recurring lunch order or
try Husky Hog BBQ for the first time Either
way, the restaurant will surely see a great
influx of IIT guests during its final days, and
the food as well as the cheerful owners who
often manage the front counter will be deeply
missedr

 

Phntns by Kari anns