[upgrayedd]

Related: are there any good sites/communities/blogs to discuss HFT that anyone can point to?

Am really interested in this field, anything like a crash course in what it involves would be nice by anyone familiar.

How much cash do you generally start with, and how liquid are you?

[nicelios]

http://howtohft.wordpress.com/

[upgrayedd]

Thanks, good links in the blogroll as well, appreciated.

[minimax]

http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/

http://highfrequencytradingreview.com/

[Gaussian]

Try NuclearPhynance.com

[ezl]

check out quant.ly

[upgrayedd]

hmm: http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/quant.ly :(

Is it just quant talk though? Isn't there enough of that on NP, Wilmott, and QuantNet?

Or am I silly in assuming quants on those sites work mostly for i-banks, hedge funds, and more established players?

Do partners in HFT firms function on the same level, as say the guy structuring CDOs at Bear Stearns? I thought there was a difference, but this is another reason for the wide questions; the nature of what HFTs do is a little vague and not clear from Google searches.

[jrockway]

Do partners in HFT firms function on the same level, as say the guy structuring CDOs at Bear Stearns?

Quant can mean a lot of things, just like "programmer" can. Your question is like asking, "do programmers work at Google, or do they write HR reporting systems for no-name companies?" They can do either and they'll still be called programmers.

[upgrayedd]

Ah, I see. I guess I'm just trying to flesh out the difference between all the terms I hear thrown around all the time that seem to overlap; day-trader, quant, HFT partner, etc. I see it's not as clear-cut as I thought. Thanks.

[jrockway]

Yes, those all overlap. I work for a department in an investment bank called "Quantitative Analytics and Research". We basically write software to move data from one system to another. The "quant" in there is just to sound important, not to actually mean anything.

In theory, "quants" develop models and "traders" use those models (combined with market data) to make trading decisions. But plenty of people called traders make their own models and plenty of people called quants press the button to make the trade.

(HFT, as I've seen it here, is basically people looking at graphs. But we are not known for electronic trading or anything.)

[upgrayedd]

Awesome, thanks for the great response. Curious if you're familiar with the common trend in the last half-decade~decade or so of Masters in Financial Engineering degree programs popping up.

Would you say spending the 150K+ and years needed to do well on the 7City exam to work as an "official quant" at famous investment banks is reasonable? There seems to be little hiring/demand for quants coming out of these programs, despite the as-of-now still high admission and graduation rates.

If the job description is as variable as you say it is, would it not make more sense to work on becoming a trader at a number of different banks, firms, and prop shops and not waste all the time and money on getting an MFE? It was popular pre-housing bubble and apparently job placement for graduates was high, yet I'm not sure this is the case is now. Could you comment on this, seeing as you're working there already?

[jeffmiller]

quant.ly is down temporarily because of the .ly domain issues with LibyanSpider but it'll be back up as soon as that resolves itself.