


While there would also be others who aspire to be Algorithmic Traders, but have neither the experience of trading nor do they possess programming skills - for them, it would be best to start learning about it. Though, he would still have to learn about Programming. In case of a Trader aspiring to get into this domain, his knowledge of Trading would be helpful. One can become an Algorithmic Trader with proper knowledge, guidance and some of the above mentioned skills.įor a Programmer, his knowledge of programming could be an asset, although he would need to learn about financial markets and statistics. Yes, it is math oriented.īeing an individual trader, having your own trading desk or working for an MNC have their own perks, but one needs to start by learning and grasping the right knowledge with dedication & discipline. This is done by creating your own algorithms or programs based on your skills as mentioned above. Based on the company, job roles and areas of expertise, the job profiles may vary from company to company.Ī layman in this domain might say that one would create programs, upload them to trading systems to execute orders, and voila! You’re a trader. Various types of job profiles are offered in the market, like Trading Strategist, Quant Analyst, Quant Researcher, Trader, Data Scientist, to name a few. In Indian markets, almost all arbitrage trades, which helps in keeping market efficient, are executed through algorithmic trading tools only. This liquidity is in-turn used by funds & financial institutions, as well as retail investors. Most of the market makers provide liquidity through algorithmic trading systems. Skills like knowledge of financial markets, financial computing, statistics & econometrics and market microstructure are helpful while foraying into algorithmic Trading domain.Īlgorithmic Trading is practised globally by many participants like Short Term traders, Sell Side participants, Mid Frequency Traders, Long Term Investors (generally for execution), etc. Ability to trade more types of strategiesĪlgorithmic & Quantitative Trading: Skills Needed.Reduced emotional trading & results in higher discipline.The Algorithmic Trading helps traders & institutions in achieve the following to some extent: Quantitative Trading on the other hand is about using statistical methodologies to create trading strategies to generate alpha, as well as for better execution. Algorithmic trading, simply put, is the use of Algorithms to perform trading, irrespective of the type of trading strategy. While Algorithmic Trading & Quantitative Trading words are often intermittently used, there lies a difference between the two. Algorithms are a set of instructions or codes written to perform the desired action and are usually written by programmers.įact: The words 'algorithm' and 'algorism' come from the name of a Persian mathematician, Al-Khwārizmīįrom the ‘open outcry’ in a ‘pit’ of an exchange building, to trading over the telephones, then to computerised trading where orders were directly executed online to today’s trading environment where programs and automatic softwares trade globally in microseconds - trading has surely come a long way. A recipe that gives you a delicious dish based on certain ingredients. In case you’re wondering, ‘What has a multinational corporation like Citibank got to do with Programming?’ This is a move to train their employees in programming to improve their overall banking operations including trading and investment banking.Īlgorithms can be thought of as a to-do list which gives you a certain output based on the inputs.

In a move that seems pretty interesting, giants like Citibank have started training their employees in the programming language Python.
