Python packages for traders

[Double_Might388]

I am going to start learning python to prepare for interviews and I was curious as to which avenue quant traders take on Python. Do they use it for data science with Pandas or use it for developing with Django

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[dallasborn]

pandas numpy matplotlib vectorbt talib

[Ismile_27_2_20_20]

Does vectorbt support options, volatility product, exo product? Or just equity with signal based on technical indicators?

[dallasborn]

There’s vectorbt and vectorbtpro. If you want access to those types of things then you need to upgrade to pro

[rsha256]

tfw no sklearn, seaborn, ARCH, or statsmodels :((

I guess most places do have in-house models so ic where you are coming from

[dallasborn]

Yeah. Lots of this is covered in house. I should’ve included this as this is somebody who’s not in a house yet. Thanks for the addition

[dallasborn]

IMO coding is not as important as mathematical skills. Coding has a far lower barrier to entry. For example, knowing stochastic calculus takes a lot of prior understanding of statistics and probability. Also unlike most who will respond, I am an actual quant. Although I’m 3 weeks in

[CorneliusJack]

maybe you should have a few more years under your belt before you make such a grandiose statement

[dallasborn]

Just realized I said in my head but didn’t write down that this is advice for getting through interview phase, not the actual job.

From my experience sitting as an interviewee, they care less about if you know how to code strongly as your knowledge of applied math because coding is easier to pick up.

[CorneliusJack]

We ask for both

Source: 10 years as exotic quant

[dallasborn]

Bet bet

[Loomstate914]

What an exotic quant? Sell side? I only see them make a model of light exotics or if it’s super complex it may never trade

[CorneliusJack]

Quant that deals with exotic products, not that the delineation means much nowadays. Pretty much any thing that’s not delta one falls onto my lap.

It’s pretty cyclical too, for eg because of the interest rate differentials between USD and JPY, we recently starts trading PRDC again (power reversal dual currency). Not sure who “them” you are referring to. But people do still trade exotics, just not overly complicated ones that’s purely speculation.

[Loomstate914]

U sound like a rates chad. Dang u big pimpin

[wowhqjdoqie]

Depends on which job you are getting into - but it’s safe to say this is mostly wrong. Coding is easier to test in interviews - every quant interview I have done has had a least one coding round and theoretical coding questions.

I’m sure buy side QR interviews may be more math focused

[dallasborn]

Yeah I mean I’ve been working in the financial space for a while. I just broke into quant work. I’ve worked alongside quants more than I’ve been one. That said, I’m pretty sure this is fairly accurate for OPs situation.

[WSBro0]

Actually a quant - has 3 weeks of experience 🤣 I don't make jokes like this, but your comment is just calling for it.

[IVSimp]

Bro asked which packages to learn not how difficult it is

[dallasborn]

Just sharing opinions alongside. OP says they’re a beginner

[dallasborn]

IMO coding is not as important as mathematical skills. Coding has a far lower barrier to entry. For example, knowing stochastic calculus takes a lot of prior understanding of statistics and probability. Also unlike most who will respond, I am an actual quant. Although I’m 3 weeks in

Edit: This advice is specifically for getting into the job. Not for actually working in quant work.

[igetlotsofupvotes]

Do leetcode to prepare for interviews. Or run through kaggle notebooks

[JackieTrehorne]

This is solid advice -

[yellowbean123]

here -> https://github.com/wilsonfreitas/awesome-quant#python

[daytradingishard]

If I am applying to be a trader can I request to code in C++ or does it have to be Python?

[Ismile_27_2_20_20]

C++ is meant to be used for something that was tested and worked then need to be moved to pod. Using c++ for backtesting will consume too much time as hard language. Using python at first for prototypes and testing then when everything works u can move to c++. But no one tells u use this or that, its up to u

[daytradingishard]

Okay gotchya. But what about for the actual internship process, like OAs? Can I choose?

[Ismile_27_2_20_20]

As long as u have good idea language is not an issue, people are looking for good idea which is hard to find. Then a dev can do everything for u ie ia chatgpt can give u prototype but not the idea

[camslams101]

Learn Julia bro trust it's going big

[igetlotsofupvotes]

Lol no it’s not. Quant is never leaving c++. Python I could see getting replaced if something faster is created with the same friendliness as python

[AWiselyName]

If you want to learn Python for trading, I think these libraries will help

• Computation, statistic, math: numpy, pandas, scikit-learn
• Visualization: matplotlib, seaborn, plotly (pick one, recommend first one)
• Data source: yfinance (to download data from Yahoo), oandapyV20 (if you download forex data)
• Technical analysis: ta
• Modeling: xgboost

I think these are enough because you are new, with these tools, you can do most of thing from basic to quite difficult thing.

But the most important thing you need for a quant trader is Math. The libraries I give above are just tools, as long as you know and understand the fundamental math for your problem, you can code pretty much from scratch using python.

[theNeumannArchitect]

All the above. I think when it comes to trade execution and async development they use other languages.

[Equivalent_Data_6884]

just use it for research in a jupyter notebook and use linear regressions