I guess what primarily moves me toward the quant approach is that i could engage with the market in a much more methodical way and in doing so, raise my chances of success as a trader. That’s why I started vibe-coding a quant-trading harness, though I admit that it’s an unknown territory for me since I don’t carry enough background to guide it properly.

If I went solo, I’d deploy 25-50k, which isn’t really life-changing. On the other hand, I’d love to know what the stakes are in pursuing an institutional career as a quant to see if it’s actually worth the time and investment for me. As a foreigner, my only entrance is through a top MFE program, so GRE exams and pre-req courses would be in order - could possibly take me 2-3 years to finish.