Quantitative analysis (finance)
Quantitative analysis is the use of
Although the original quantitative analysts were "sell side quants" from market maker firms, concerned with derivatives pricing and risk management, the meaning of the term has expanded over time to include those individuals involved in almost any application of mathematical finance, including the buy side.[2] Applied quantitative analysis is commonly associated with quantitative investment management which includes a variety of methods such as statistical arbitrage, algorithmic trading and electronic trading.
Some of the larger investment managers using quantitative analysis include
History
Modern
In 1965
In 1981, Harrison and Pliska used the general theory of continuous-time stochastic processes to put the Black–Scholes model on a solid theoretical basis, and showed how to price numerous other derivative securities.
After the
Education
Quantitative analysts often come from
Typically, a quantitative analyst will also need extensive skills in computer programming, most commonly
This demand for quantitative analysts has led to the creation of specialized Masters and PhD courses in financial engineering, mathematical finance,
This has in parallel led to a resurgence in demand for
Types
Front office quantitative analyst
In
Front office work favours a higher speed to quality ratio, with a greater emphasis on solutions to specific problems than detailed modeling. FOQs typically are significantly better paid than those in back office, risk, and model validation. Although highly skilled analysts, FOQs frequently lack software engineering experience or formal training, and bound by time constraints and business pressures, tactical solutions are often adopted.
Increasingly, quants are attached to specific desks. Two cases are:
Quantitative investment management
Quantitative analysis is used extensively by
One of the first quantitative investment funds to launch was based in Santa Fe, New Mexico and began trading in 1991 under the name Prediction Company.[6][13] By the late-1990s, Prediction Company began using statistical arbitrage to secure investment returns, along with three other funds at the time, Renaissance Technologies and D. E. Shaw & Co, both based in New York.[6] Prediction hired scientists and computer programmers from the neighboring Los Alamos National Laboratory to create sophisticated statistical models using "industrial-strength computers" in order to "[build] the Supercollider of Finance".[14][15]
Machine learning models are now capable of identifying complex patterns in financial market data. With the aid of artificial intelligence, investors are increasingly turning to deep learning techniques to forecast and analyze trends in stock and foreign exchange markets.[16] See Applications of artificial intelligence § Trading and investment.
Library quantitative analysis
Major firms invest large sums in an attempt to produce standard methods of evaluating prices and risk. These differ from front office tools in that
Algorithmic trading quantitative analyst
Often the highest paid form of Quant, ATQs make use of methods taken from signal processing, game theory, gambling Kelly criterion, market microstructure, econometrics, and time series analysis.
Risk management
This area has grown in importance in recent years, as the credit crisis exposed holes in the mechanisms used to ensure that positions were correctly
. A core technique continues to be value at risk - applying bothInnovation
In the aftermath of the financial crisis[2008], there surfaced the recognition that quantitative valuation methods were generally too narrow in their approach. An agreed upon fix adopted by numerous financial institutions has been to improve collaboration.
Model validation
Model validation (MV) takes the models and methods developed by front office, library, and modeling quantitative analysts and determines their validity and correctness; see model risk. The MV group might well be seen as a superset of the quantitative operations in a financial institution, since it must deal with new and advanced models and trading techniques from across the firm.
Post crisis, regulators now typically talk directly to the quants in the middle office - such as the model validators - and since profits highly depend on the regulatory infrastructure, model validation has gained in weight and importance with respect to the quants in the front office.
Before the crisis however, the pay structure in all firms was such that MV groups struggle to attract and retain adequate staff, often with talented quantitative analysts leaving at the first opportunity. This gravely impacted corporate ability to manage model risk, or to ensure that the positions being held were correctly valued. An MV quantitative analyst would typically earn a fraction of quantitative analysts in other groups with similar length of experience. In the years following the crisis, as mentioned, this has changed.
Quantitative developer
Quantitative developers, sometimes called quantitative software engineers, or quantitative engineers, are computer specialists that assist, implement and maintain the quantitative models. They tend to be highly specialised language technicians that bridge the gap between
Mathematical and statistical approaches
Because of their backgrounds, quantitative analysts draw from various forms of mathematics: statistics and probability, calculus centered around partial differential equations, linear algebra, discrete mathematics, and econometrics. Some on the buy side may use machine learning. The majority of quantitative analysts have received little formal education in mainstream economics, and often apply a mindset drawn from the physical sciences. Quants use mathematical skills learned from diverse fields such as computer science, physics and engineering. These skills include (but are not limited to) advanced statistics, linear algebra and partial differential equations as well as solutions to these based upon numerical analysis.
Commonly used numerical methods are:
- Finite difference method – used to solve partial differential equations;
- Monte Carlo simulationis also common in risk management;
- Ordinary least squares – used to estimate parameters in statistical regression analysis;
- Spline interpolation – used to interpolate values from spot and forward interest rates curves, and volatility smiles;
- interest rate curve-building.)
Techniques
A typical problem for a mathematically oriented quantitative analyst would be to develop a model for pricing, hedging, and risk-managing a complex derivative product. These quantitative analysts tend to rely more on numerical analysis than statistics and econometrics. One of the principal mathematical tools of quantitative finance is stochastic calculus. The mindset, however, is to prefer a deterministically "correct" answer, as once there is agreement on input values and market variable dynamics, there is only one correct price for any given security (which can be demonstrated, albeit often inefficiently, through a large volume of Monte Carlo simulations).
A typical problem for a statistically oriented quantitative analyst would be to develop a model for deciding which stocks are relatively expensive and which stocks are relatively cheap. The model might include a company's book value to price ratio, its trailing earnings to price ratio, and other accounting factors. An investment manager might implement this analysis by buying the underpriced stocks, selling the overpriced stocks, or both. Statistically oriented quantitative analysts tend to have more of a reliance on statistics and econometrics, and less of a reliance on sophisticated numerical techniques and object-oriented programming. These quantitative analysts tend to be of the psychology that enjoys trying to find the best approach to modeling data, and can accept that there is no "right answer" until time has passed and we can retrospectively see how the model performed. Both types of quantitative analysts demand a strong knowledge of sophisticated mathematics and computer programming proficiency.
Academic and technical field journals
- Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Journal on Financial Mathematics
- The Journal of Portfolio Management[17]
- Quantitative Finance[18]
- Risk Magazine
- Wilmott Magazine
- Finance and Stochastics[19]
- Mathematical Finance
Areas of work
- Trading strategy development
- Portfolio management and Portfolio optimization
- Derivatives pricingand hedging: involves software development, advanced numerical techniques, and stochastic calculus.
- Risk management: involves a lot of time series analysis, calibration, and backtesting.
- Credit analysis
- Asset and liability management
- Structured finance and securitization
- Asset pricing
Seminal publications
- 1900 – Louis Bachelier, Théorie de la spéculation
- 1938 – Bond duration
- 1944 – Kiyosi Itô, "Stochastic Integral", Proceedings of the Imperial Academy, 20(8), pp. 519–524
- 1952 – Harry Markowitz, Portfolio Selection, Modern portfolio theory
- 1956 – John Kelly, A New Interpretation of Information Rate
- 1958 – Franco Modigliani and Merton Miller, The Cost of Capital, Corporation Finance and the Theory of Investment, Modigliani–Miller theorem and Corporate finance
- 1964 – William F. Sharpe, Capital asset prices: A theory of market equilibrium under conditions of risk, Capital asset pricing model
- 1965 – John Lintner, The Valuation of Risk Assets and the Selection of Risky Investments in Stock Portfolios and Capital Budgets, Capital asset pricing model
- 1967 – Edward O. Thorp and Sheen Kassouf, Beat the Market
- 1972 – Eugene Fama and Merton Miller, Theory of Finance
- 1972 – Inside the Yield Book, Fixed income analysis
- 1973 – Black–Scholes
- 1976 – Fischer Black, The pricing of commodity contracts, Black model
- 1977 – Phelim Boyle, Options: A Monte Carlo Approach, Monte Carlo methods for option pricing
- 1977 – Oldřich Vašíček, An equilibrium characterisation of the term structure, Vasicek model
- 1979 – John Carrington Cox; Stephen Ross; Mark Rubinstein, Option pricing: A simplified approach, Binomial options pricing model and Lattice model
- 1980 – Lawrence G. McMillan, Options as a Strategic Investment
- 1982 – Barr Rosenberg and Andrew Rudd, Factor-Related and Specific Returns of Common Stocks: Serial Correlation and Market Inefficiency, Journal of Finance, May 1982 V. 37: #2
- 1982 – GARCH
- 1985 – John C. Cox, Jonathan E. Ingersoll and Stephen Ross, A theory of the term structure of interest rates, Cox–Ingersoll–Ross model
- 1987 – Giovanni Barone-Adesi and American options.
- 1987 – David Heath, Robert A. Jarrow, and Andrew Morton Bond pricing and the term structure of interest rates: a new methodology (1987), Heath–Jarrow–Morton framework for interest rates
- 1990 – Fischer Black, Emanuel Derman and William Toy, A One-Factor Model of Interest Rates and Its Application to Treasury Bond, Black–Derman–Toy model
- 1990 – Hull-White model
- 1991 – Ioannis Karatzas & Steven E. Shreve. Brownian motion and stochastic calculus.
- 1992 – JSTOR 4479577 Black–Litterman model
- 1994 – J.P. Morgan RiskMetrics Group, RiskMetrics Technical Document, 1996, RiskMetrics model and framework
- 2002 – Patrick Hagan, Deep Kumar, Andrew Lesniewski, Diana Woodward, Managing Smile Risk, Wilmott Magazine, January 2002, SABR volatility model.
- 2004 – Emanuel Derman, My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance
See also
- List of quantitative analysts
- Quantitative fund
- Financial modeling
- Black–Scholes equation
- Financial signal processing
- Financial analyst
- Technical analysis
- Fundamental analysis
- Financial economics
- Mathematical finance
- Alpha generation platform
References
- ^ See Definition in the Society for Applied and Industrial Mathematics https://web.archive.org/web/20060430115935/http://siam.org/about/pdf/brochure.pdf
- ^ Derman, E. (2004). My life as a quant: reflections on physics and finance. John Wiley & Sons.
- ^ "Top Quantitative Hedge Funds". Street of Walls.
- S2CID 7492997.
- ^ a b Lam, Leslie P. Norton and Dan. "Why Edward Thorp Owns Only Berkshire Hathaway". barrons.com. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-307-45339-6.
- ^ Samuelson, P. A. (1965). "Rational Theory of Warrant Pricing". Industrial Management Review. 6 (2): 13–32.
- ^ Henry McKean the co-founder of stochastic calculus (along with Kiyosi Itô) wrote the appendix: see McKean, H. P. Jr. (1965). "Appendix (to Samuelson): a free boundary problem for the heat equation arising from a problem of mathematical economics". Industrial Management Review. 6 (2): 32–39.
- .
- ^ Derman, Emanuel (2004). My Life as a Quant. John Wiley and Sons.
- ^ "Machine Learning in Finance: Theory and Applications". marketsmedia.com. 22 January 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
- ^ "A Machine-Learning View of Quantitative Finance" (PDF). qminitiative.org.
- ^ Rothschild, John (November 7, 1999). "The Gnomes of Santa Fe". archive.nytimes.com. Archived from the original on Jun 6, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
- ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
- ^ Beilselki, Vincent (September 6, 2018). "Millennium Shuts Down Pioneering Quant Hedge Fund". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
- ISSN 2076-3417.
- ^ "The Journal of Portfolio Management". jpm.iijournals.com. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
- ^ "Quantitative Finance". Taylor & Francis.
- ^ "Finance and Stochastics – incl. Option to publish open access".
Further reading
- Bernstein, Peter L. (1992) Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street
- Bernstein, Peter L. (2007) Capital Ideas Evolving
- ISBN 0-470-19273-9
- ISBN 978-0-307-45337-2. Amazon page for book via Patterson and Thorp interview on Fresh Air, February 1, 2010, including excerpt "Chapter 2: The Godfather: Ed Thorp". Also, an excerptfrom "Chapter 10: The August Factor", in the January 23, 2010 Wall Street Journal.
- Read, Colin (2012) Rise of the Quants (Great Minds in Finance Series) ISBN 023027417X
- Analysing Quantitative Data for Business and Management Students
External links
- Society of Quantitative Analysts
- Q-Group Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance
- CQA—Chicago Quantitative Alliance
- Quantitative Work Alliance for Finance Education and Wisdom (QWAFAFEW)
- Professional Risk Managers Industry Association (PRMIA)
- International Association of Quantitative Finance
- London Quant Group
- Quantitative Finance at Stack Exchange – question and answer site for quantitative finance