[mikert5671]

This used to be true. Small HFT firms can find a niche thats profitable, but thats because there isnt enough money to be made by the big firms in those niches.

In the last few years there has been massive consolidation of the smaller HFT players, the space is commoditized and controlled by a few firms.

[qeternity]

Yes, consolidation and layoffs. Go see how many KCG guys were kept by Virtu. If anything the industry has gotten smaller. People are just buying up flow now. There are no "big" HFT firms when compared to proper buy side.

> the space is commoditized and controlled by a few firms

Few firms != big firms

[mikert5671]

Yeah its funny, I still read outrage about those greedy "HFT players", as if HFT was still highly relevant. It was a blip in time of the financial markets when no one had high speed trading but a few. The alpha has been washed away.

[qeternity]

"c[1] is a bitch" - most HFT quants past few years

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light

[minhazm423]

> The alpha has been washed away.

whats that mean?

so what are quants on the street doing now?

[qeternity]

Quant !== HFT

[minhazm423]

whats the diff? What are people working on hft solutions called then?

[minhazm423]

any resources or further reading u can point me to?