Interview with a quant trader
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ค. 2024
- This is an extremely lucrative but pretty mysterious job that I know many people are interested in learning more about. In this video, I interview Worthan Kwan, a quant trader at a hedge fund to learn about his day to day, how much money people are really making, what the requirements are to become a quant trader, and much more! I also made a post a few weeks back crowdsourcing questions and I'm pretty proud to say that we got through almost all of them in this video :D
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Resources mentioned in video:
arithmetic.zetamac.com/
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:40 His background
02:54 Why quant trading?
04:00 Why he did a masters in computer science
05:18 Day in the life of quant trader
09:23 Salary expectations + career growth
15:28 Words of warning
16:38 Why quant trading + how to get interview
19:22 Non traditional background?
22:14 Trading related projects
23:10 Interview tips
25:24 What math do you need
30:12 Quant trader vs research vs engineer
34:05 How stressful is the job
39:26 Lightning round
41:00 What he would have studied in undergrad
42:09 Advice for breaking into the field
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Subscribe: / @tinahuang1
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Check out StrataScratch for SQL interview prep: stratascratch.com/?via=tina
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Contact:
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#QuantTrader #HedgeFund #QuantTraderInterview - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
I genuinely do think that you will see your effort pay off when it comes to this channel. You simply ask all the right questions.
Oh wow thank you ❤️❤️
Thanks Tina and Worthan! I'm an ML researcher in academia thinking about switching to a career in finance, so the interview is really useful.
Love the content!!! This is a rare and sought after inside view of the quant field!
Wanted to drop a comment before I finish this video all the way, love Worthan so far. Thanks Tina!
Yayy ❤️😊 thanks for stopping by!!
Thanks Tina for this interview! Seems like something I would be interested in. This interview gives me some hope that I can potentially get one of these positions.
Yay I’m so glad to hear that! That was my secret hope that once people know how other people did it, they could see a path for themselves too 😊
Hi Tina, thanks for the video, very informative and definitely gives a lot of quant trader related insights. Would love to see more of this talk-with-the-pros type of content
Yay I’m glad you liked it! Your wish is my command 😊 I love talking to different people too!
“Look at him. He’s my Quant”
Do you notice anything about him? He won a national math contest in China.
He doesn't even speak English
I'll give you a hint. His name is Yang
@@huybui2413 look at his eyes lol
@Hua Bai So your offering us a chance to short pile of blocks, how?
I've worked in markets for 10 years. I am always more of a technical analysis guy in short term and a fundamental analysis guy when it comes to investing in the long run. Quant analysis is a relatively newer field and it seems quite fun. I always wanted to be a venture capitalist but life is complex. So I'm doing computer science now. I enjoy coding that's why I like your channel but I do feel my experience and studies in finance and business help me out everywhere.
Your channel is definitely going to be big Tina! Excited to watch your content and follow your TH-cam journey!
Thank you so so much for your support ❤️ That would be the dream 🙈
@@TinaHuang1 You're welcome! Happy to support any way I can!
@@TinaHuang1 This comment turned out to be true
Your channel is really helpful and informative. Glad that i found this soon enough! ❤
Really insightful, I did finance for my undergrad, currently doing a part time msc in comp sci - been working in back office for a few years, looking to jump ship
Such a beautiful, articulate, honest and kind interview by Worthan Kwan and the interviewer Tina Huang was able to get great information from the guest and still make the interview very interesting and fun. Both are pleasant and fun people. Thank you Tina and Worthan for sharing. We appreciate it.
Wow thanks so much for your kind words :) I’ll pass along to Worthan too! I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that!
@@TinaHuang1 Yes, please do. Thanks again. Keep up the great work.
been looking forward to this since you asked for questions :)
Yay!! 😊
Thanks for this video, Tina ! You and your guests are an inspiration.
Thank you!! I’m so glad you liked it :) and thanks for always supporting me!
I will always support your great videos. Please continue to share them with everyone, Tina !
Thanks Tina and Worthan for answering my question :) and well done Tina for creating another quality video!
Yay so glad you liked it ❤️
Incredibly helpful interview, thanks!
This was unbelievably useful and entertaining! :)
(Atm I'm an economics and management student (desperately) trying to get away from IB and into quant trading)
LOL that was literally Worthan!
This is so helpful Tina!! Thank you so much
Yay you’re welcome!!
Based on his answers, he got in a couple yrs ago. Today, quant trading is differentiated by probabilistic models including DS vs simply algorithmic usage. This is more prop trading when you’re primarily doing basket options trades based on model vars. Peak6 is def considered prop shop vs quant fund. Same with Jane St though they try to market themselves as quant driven these days.
Bayesian forecasting?
Very good interview! I would consider doing something about the audio setup, I really struggled to hear what you guys were saying
Your channel is so dope. This interview was so good too. Makes me want to drop my career and go into trading 😂
LOL why not start on the side? I am ❤️
Dope interview, that skeleton scared the hell out of me though lol
Hahahah glad you enjoyed it though 😂💀
The skeleton is reminding me I have to study for my anatomy course lol 😂
The video we wanted and the video we needed!!
YAY :D
I wanted to ask a follow-up question. How profitable is individual quant trading? Or how profitable can it/ should it be in the long run?
Greeks (delta, theta, gamma, Vega, rho) describe risks (various rates of change) of an option price. Analyzing option portfolio risk is fun. I am a former options market maker and NYBOT member.
Hi Tina. Love your channel. Especially love this video. I'm a 'beginner' quant trader myself. Built my own simple Neural Net EA in MQL5. I'm a CS major with skills in blockchain technology, Cybersecurity etc.
Loved this video a lot because it gave me more insight into my side hustle so to speak, and helped me understand a few key things that I needed clarification on. Thank you.
I don't know if it would be possible for you to interview a blockchain ML/Deep Learning researcher or scientist.
Would really mean a lot since my thesis is based along those lines.
Please find God, and stop caring about "blockchain"
Hello very good interview, may i ask if the models they he built are from scratch or he uses packages.
Great interviewer and great interviewee!
20:18 What book was he talking about? You didn't mention it.
Great interview. What is the book mentioned?
Would you consider going into quant trading? I've actually thought about it before!
Alternative to Quantopian: www.quantconnect.com/ Thanks @Carlos Ishimwe!
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:40 His background
02:54 Why quant trading?
04:00 Why he did a masters in computer science
05:18 Day in the life of quant trader
09:23 Salary expectations + career growth
15:28 Words of warning
16:38 Why quant trading + how to get interview
19:22 Non traditional background?
22:14 Trading related projects
23:10 Interview tips
25:24 What math do you need
30:12 Quant trader vs research vs engineer
34:05 How stressful is the job
39:26 Lightning round
41:00 What he would have studied in undergrad
42:09 Advice for breaking into the field
Hey Tina:)Your interview was cool.
I'm trying to make a switch in Quantitative Trading. I'm an undergraduate CSS student(in the last year) working as an Ios engineer. I have statistics + ML/DL background.
Can he define a roadmap for his domain? You know in Data science/ML research/SWE are differents sets of knowledge that's you should have to do the actual job.(programming languages+database+data structure+system design+frameworks)-That's for SWE
From the interview, I understood that you need quantitative analysis, math, statistics but that's is too abstract what kind of stats, what kind of X do you need.
Hi! I suggest reaching out to him on linkedin. If you let him know where you heard about him from he's usually very good at responding :)
This guy's amazing. He answered in 30 minutes very detailed.
Great interview with wonderful questions!
If there’s anything I would recommend, it’s having the chairs face each other. It feels awkward to see Worthan face the camera in front of him and then turn to his side to talk to you. And was the microphone recording? It sounds like it came from the camera.
I'm so glad you liked it!
Also thanks so much for the tip! It definitely was a bit awkward filming it as well so that makes a lot of sense :) I've been having a lot of mic problems. I think it was from the mic because it said it was recording? But now that you mention it it does seem like that doesn't it? Audio quality has been getting worse and worse for my new videos too even though I haven't changed anything. Oh dear, I'll try to figure out what is happening. Thanks for letting me know :)
@@TinaHuang1 Looks like a directional mic (shotgun/cardioid). If that's the case you have to point it towards the sound source. In the case of this video, it seems you are recording more the echoes from the room.
Great quality interview
Awesome video. Very informative. Thank you so much. Can you please add the book name in the description that he mentions at 20:20?
Yes I’d like to know as well. I have spoken to someone who does quant trading and they recommended the book Active Portfolio Management by Grinold and Kahn. Curious what book he was referring to.
Thanks for the suggestion Kevin.
I work in prop trading. The part that’s being downplayed by a lot is how incredibly competitive it is to get into this industry. The Jane Street interview rounds are notoriously difficult. They’re basically screening for geniuses.
Any time an industry will pay some 25yr old with a bachelors degree over $500k to work 45hrs/week there’s a catch. In this case, the catch is that you have to be wildly intelligent to get past all of the interview rounds.
Do you mind eloborating about work at prop firms
Your not making salary but you make percentage of what you gain or lose ? Am i right ,?
If so whats the point of working , menaing if you have working strategy why not just trade for yourself and keep 100%
Also they pay you 500k at 25
@@urosuros2072 you get to trade with firm capital of millions of dollars so you can take risks you wouldn’t take with your own money and get a healthy % of it as your annual bonus.
You get to trade through tech infrastructure that costs millions of dollars to maintain. It will be the fastest, and have access to dark pools.
You get access to a team of experienced quants who have generated winning signals over their careers.
@Eugène Duvert sure, that’s as good as any another major. Realistically, your primary bottleneck will be your own IQ. It’s politically incorrect these days to say it, but this industry doesn’t care. They’re risking money and they want hyper intelligent people. So the interview rounds are basically IQ tests. If you didn’t score above 1400/1600 on your SATs, and definitely above 700 on SAT Math, just don’t waste your time and instead look for softer industries that also pay well like Banking or Consulting.
Really good interview 😉
Loved this video.
Unfortunately the audio is quite bad (ambient reverb because of refective surfaces and the audio volume change when he turns his head while talking), which makes it pretty stressful listening.
This is unreal! Thank you! Excited, covid is allowing me to pivot and go back to school to be a quant
That’s awesome!! 😎
Hello is there a significant difference in complexity from a digressionary quant trader to a quant trader that uses fully automated models?
i disagree with having a degree to become a non-retail options trader a lot of successful people trade options you don't need a degree it's very simple stuff the only way to get a non-retail edge is to own billions and move the market yourself either way it's a great interview!
Hi, not sure if you will see this, but how much coding knowledge is required? Im planning to just get a cs minor with my stats major and I was wondering if that is enough.
Well this was just perfect
Thank you for the video!
Glad you liked it!! :)
how old is he? Just to compare myself where I should be at 21 years old
Can you do a second part to see where his at now lol great info 🙏🏼
Did anyone ever find an alternative to Quantopian since they closed down in December?
I’m currently 20, turning 21 this year and I’m completing my undergrad in Finance and Accounting next year. I have a sudden realisation that I am really interested in Data Science and programming after taking some online courses online. I was in a dilemma as to whether I should drop my current course and go into CS, but my parents told me that since I’ll be completing my undergrad next year I might as well stick to it and learn programming on the side and try to venture into the next possible step after my undergrad. I was feeling rather anxious as to whether “it’s too late” for me to shift paths but listening through this video made me feel more assured and I am definitely going to try applying for MCIT in the near future. Thank you for putting this out and helping me feel less anxious and guilty about my undergrad degree and decisions :)
Just do a masters. If you are interested in DS the programming you need is not super complex.
Try to learn both R and Python. It will open more doors. Also to start off focus on stats and simple ML, avoid deep learning. Good luck.
@@martinbel thanks for the insight really appreciate it :)
You and I are in same boat...I'm also having this problem
@@arbabhasan9425 hoping that we find our way through
(also if you ever want to like connect and form some kind of community to learn programming/ DS on the side that would be pretty cool :)
@@sri6567 hey i was wondering if you got into DS?
really insightful interview with great questions, does the guy have a youtube or something so i can learn more about what he does
Yay so glad you like it!! Haha he doesn’t but I’m trying to convince him to come on again 😆
@@TinaHuang1 would be great if you could, id be down for a part 2 lol
Automated traded for options that’s crazy, ask what indictors does he use.
lol
That’s what I need exactly.
amazing interview! you should include yourself in the frame to make it more interesting
Thank you! Haha tbh it's because I somehow lost the footage for the first half of the video :(
Really good interview.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!!
thanks, but the audio is really low volume. i even turned up volume on my end.
What's the book he mentions at 20:24 ? Thank you.
Thanks for the info
Enjoyed it, but would be great to have better audio in the first half
For sure - thanks for bearing with it! hopefully new videos are better :)
In my final year for degree, and boy how much I wished I chose this industry instead.
Hi, I am confused about where to start quantitative trading. I'm 17 years old, I have no background in programming but I've been trading stocks for a year now with technical analysis (discretionary trader). I want to study coding too but there are different end paths, I don't know which way is for the quantitative traders and engineers. With so much information on the internet, I don't know what to study first in relation to being a quant. I'm planning to take financial management in college, and study programming at the side. What courses online should I start with? Can you give me advice?
Btw, your interview is a relief. Thank you.
Hi! I’m afraid I’m not qualified to answer this question. I recommend reaching out to Worthan on LinkedIn, who is generally very good and responding to people :) he doesn’t monitor this video’s comments though
I come from an Econ background so I studied auctions in Game theory. I always wondered how to link ML with Game theory and this seems like an interesting application. Thanks for sharing Tina, you and your guests are always an inspiration.
Ooo would you mind explaining a bit more? Now I’m super curious 😊
With pleasure Tina, I explained it in a one page document so you can have an idea about Game theory and its applications:
docs.google.com/document/d/1GVbfh9DrlXNVooZBPinc5gaAtJGuCPtksXxsxhrMRo4/edit?usp=sharing
I hope this is helpful
@@TinaHuang1 Oh I just saw this comment again when someone liked it ( Thanks someone ) .. I forgot to tag you sorry
Very mysterious!
NOT ANYMORE 😆
After a few years on the job you should be able to trade the market yourself with your own capital and make way more
glad I found this video
Yay - Im glad you liked it! :)
Nice work
Is it possible to become a Quant if working in Risk management.
Secondly I want to know is it possible to be a Quant after doing Masters in Financial Engineering
Statistics/ data science / mathematics is key
Quantopian is gone :( very intersting interview though
The Quant Trader Rebellion!
nice interview, but, it would've been nice to see both the interviewer and interviewee.
It is really good video i just wonder if you are quant trader and have good salary after 2 or 3 years why they dont manage their money by their own without becoming quant in trading companies ? What is difference between quant trader in company and in house or by own small company ? Thanks a lot.
Is there a chance of getting a job if you have been trading profitably for over a year but tou dont have a formal education . You taught yourself math including probability , Calculus... via MIT Open Courses
And most of your trading is automated via software you wrote
Hey tina are you aware of any women in this role? I’m a cs major with a data focus and it seems like something I’d wanna do, I just don’t know how viable it is
Yup there are! Like most technical (and also finance?) jobs there are way more guys but there definitely are females too!
i wish he had a youtube, twitter, or anything..
Hey Tina, thanks for the interview, it was pretty insightful and cool haha. Is it cool if I email you my resume and website to review?
Hi! I’m currently not doing anymore reviews and still have a lot of backlogged resumes I’m afraid :( I’ll make a post if I’m going to do more reviews in the future though! In the meantime I highly recommend you check out the review of my own resume and the resume roundups I did with Ken Jee. Combined, I go through pretty much everything I look for in a resume :)
Hey, what is this guys full name? I want to look at his linkedin. Thanks.
Worthan Kwan
Do you have to work long hours as a quant?
You need to speak louder Tina, But thanks it's informative
Hi Tina, could you share with us Morgan's LinkedIn?
Any Brazilian interested in Quant Finance around here?
The audio from both interviewee and interviewer doesn’t do the material justice.
29:20 Any tips to do mental math faster? or is that guy a genius? my score with the default settings is 10, not 50! I coincidently was practicing my 1-12 multiplication for no reason on quizlet and got around top 30 on the leaderboard and thought I was good, I guess not against a quant.
mm I think he's pretty fast naturally but I don't think it's a skill that you can't learn. Just keep doing it! There's a lot of tricks to do fast mental math
i got 47 after 1 day of practising 1 hr and im not genius just practice
@@youtubeaccount1718 With casual practice for 2 months, I got around 30 score. Genius is 150iq btw. I have a hunch if you score that well your iq is pretty high. If you know any guides and tricks let me know.
I like when he saw the cat at 15:04
Would a software engineering degree and finance degree be a good combo? Or is computer science the end all be all.
Math
Math
And math
As Jim Simmon said you can train mathematician or physicist finance , but you cant teach a finance person real math or physicis
Getting math degree at good college would be the best option
This is one of the most realistic videos about the quant industry I've seen. They may not have touched on it, but the university you attend also matters. Coming from Canada, you need to attend Waterloo, UofT, or UBC to have the best chance at getting interviewed.
...
Personally I recommend Waterloo's Computing and Financial Management undergrad. It's basically a double major between computer science and finance with 2 years of co-op. Every big company in US/Canada/China is recruiting nearly every semester.
...
You've got Jane Street, GTS, Virtu, Citadel, DRW, Hudson River Trading, Capula, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, Goldman, the Canadian banks, etc.
Plus the smaller quant startups, and the usual suspects: Google (hires 20-75 students per term from Waterloo), Facebook (~10ish), Amazon, Apple, Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei, Tesla, Bloomberg, Microsoft, Darwin AI, and a ton of other tech companies from NY, Silicon Valley, Austin, and Toronto. There's usually about 4000-11,000 job postings per semester for tech.
...
Since y'all always want the pay figures, Citadel and Jane Street usually compete for highest compensation for interns. Pre-covid, it was $81-$83 USD per hour plus the housing stipend ($5000-$10,000 per month).
Thanks for adding in so much more information :) i had no idea myself!
That’s my quant.
My QUANT-TI-TA-TIVE! He doesn't even speak English!
Unfortunately Quantopian has closed. Do you know any other website to replace it ?
I knowwww so sad :( not that I know of I’m afraid...
@@TinaHuang1 Ever heard of QuantConnect ?
@@Young_Santana808 Nope I just looked it up! Looks promising - have you tried it out?
@@TinaHuang1 Yes i tried it and it is actually pretty good
@@Young_Santana808 Oh cool! Thanks for letting me know about it. I'd add it to the pinned comments as an alternative :D
I wasted my life in mechanical engineering... 15 years to reach senior level while making 500k? Mechanical engineer at 15 experience level make about 120-140k at the most...I guess if you are in the sciences and like trading go into it because your pay will be astronomically better.
Anything finance related is whether big money is.
Competition is also 100x more difficult in Quant ,you will be competing against many Harvard and MIT math geniuses , guys that are winning Olympiads , there is a reason those guys make 500k
Also trading is job for young people , not something you will be doing in you 50s and 60s , so much less job security
Does he have a github ?
Can you become a data scientist without having a degree?
hmm that's a hard question haha. Do you mean any degree at all or an unrelated degree? If the former, then no I don't think so. You could for software engineering but it would be very hard for data science. For the latter, if you have any sort of technical degree, including computer science, engineering, math, or physical sciences then yes you can without too much effort. If you have a business degree, you could do data analytics as a way of getting your foot in the door. For everybody else, I would recommend getting a masters. Hope that helps!
Thank you Tina this really helped me also. Been talking to some clients and they really told me to look into data science. I think the reason why they told me that is because I'm going to be going in the community college and you know it'll take a while to get some degrees and probably by then the industry will change
Audio is terrible, but looks like you're just starting out. Will have to listen another time when I can have my finger on the volume to adjust for the varying levels during the interview. I suggest using inexpensive desk mics until your can afford higher end quality ones.
Thumbnail makes it seem like the cat is the trader lol
Wait, I thought the cat in the thumbnail was the quant trader... 😂😂
Quantopian closed just after this interview.
Ahah
Im here for the cat
this guy is a gangsta
exit options?
not from him but from my observations: seems like some traders that burn out end up in tech hahaha
Thumbnail is misleading came here thinking the cat was a quant trader 🥺
I hold the same position as him in India and get paid 5 times less 😢
What is the name of the book mentioned at 20:20?
Ohh let me try to find out and link in the description!
sniff sniff.
What's this smell?
I smell the next big tech youtuber. Keep it up with the quality contents!
Thank you - you’re too kind ❤️ I’ll try my best!!
who says high 5 figures?
Did he say that? I remember him saying mid 6 figures in 3-5 years