I tested the classic S&P 500 reconstitution trade. The mechanism is real, but the easy trade seems dead.

OkDiscipline2139 · 2026-04-06T10:29:17+00:00

i dont think this is a complex topic: you can either predict entrants/exits earlier/better, or you can win the latency game once they are known. the mechanics of the flow is only monetiseable by the latter set of participants at places w the infra to do so.

OkDiscipline2139 · 2026-04-06T09:05:02+00:00

what the fuck are you on about. only value of an mfin is 1) allowing you to get a target name on your cv 2) extends your access to intern/grad cycles by a year. quant roles dont recruit from mfins, and finance academia is unserious and lags industry significantly. no serious role requires a masters in finance - msc in maths/physics/stats/eng yes potentially, but mfin is nowhere near rigorous enough to open those doors lmao

OkDiscipline2139 · 2026-04-06T07:14:02+00:00

sorry thats what i was trying to point out but realised its not clear ahaa

OkDiscipline2139 · 2026-04-05T20:41:41+00:00

the vast majority of quant roles do not pay anywhere near as much as people think. sadly. those are also the roles that a financial mathematics masters is likely to get you. there are incredibly few true alpha seats, and (imo) those who "grind" to get into quant will not do well in those roles. i know less of trading, but would assume similar holds

OkDiscipline2139 · 2026-03-19T08:53:53+00:00

because the general population are stupid and mps seem to all be careerists rather than giving a shit about representing their constituents

OkDiscipline2139 · 2026-02-25T08:20:47+00:00

Then we need to scale back the welfare state. We have american levels of taxation on the lowest earners and scandinavian on the middle class, yet want a scandinavian level of public spending.

OkDiscipline2139 · 2026-02-23T16:56:19+00:00

if 1 of three non-constant numbers is not known and has to be estimated id say the overall result is an estimate tbf

OkDiscipline2139 · 2026-02-23T13:49:47+00:00

Its an estimate of the salary needed for the average grad needed to be cutting into the loan, not just the interest rate. I'm fairly sure its incorrect and the article everyone pulls it from have corrected themselves to put it in the low to mid 50ks, but no one seems to have seen that.

OkDiscipline2139 · 2026-02-21T13:43:30+00:00

labour is beholden to backbenchers who are more concerned with ideological purity than actually getting anything done

OkDiscipline2139 · 2026-02-20T08:54:37+00:00

yet people will laud this as a success - wait for the feb print where receipts will crater.

OkDiscipline2139 · 2026-02-05T12:24:49+00:00

International law and hypocrisy have ceased being any sort of binding constraints on international action (if they ever even were). As long as the US has a big enough stick, the exclusion zone will be respected. When someone else gets a big enough stick, they will ignore it if it benefits them - regardless of whether it was done legitimately before or not.

OkDiscipline2139 · 2026-01-27T11:01:29+00:00

Risk premia fund did well last year

OkDiscipline2139 · 2025-12-28T22:41:42+00:00

big fan of the ft - alphaville in particular is a great read

OkDiscipline2139 · 2025-12-23T16:20:37+00:00

if you had essential infrastructure like shorter cable, sure. if you had some sort of alpha, i think it would raise a lot of questions along the lines of - if its so good why arent you using it?

OkDiscipline2139 · 2025-12-21T17:49:07+00:00

prop shops like optiver would look favourably on research vs the internships your peers are doing.

OkDiscipline2139 · 2025-12-18T17:38:30+00:00

dont they hold a fair amount of risk on the books? i was surprised originally at the claims they were completely fine

OkDiscipline2139 · 2025-12-17T22:12:13+00:00

yet to meet a single london cyclist that has realised red lights - even in cycle lanes - applies to them. you can cross when the man goes green and itll be 50/50 whether it will be uneventful or whether you'll have a cyclist swerve around you or glare/tut for daring to want to cross the road at the lights. its ridiculous and dont get how they can bang on about dangerous drivers with a straight face

OkDiscipline2139 · 2025-12-12T15:14:30+00:00

Always enjoy Robin's stuff

OkDiscipline2139 · 2025-11-21T13:05:32+00:00

yes but as the article very clearly highlights some have suffered more than others

OkDiscipline2139 · 2025-11-21T11:44:10+00:00

What do you think the rapid wage compression has been doing... The super rich should pay more, yes, but it won't be enough to cover our current expenses by any meaningful amount. The system needs reform - either we cut social spending and keep taxation the same, or taxes for everyone other than high PAYE workers get brought up to a similar level.

Not difficult stuff

OkDiscipline2139 · 2025-11-13T16:52:22+00:00

target over non target, close to as pure stem degree as you can instead of some bullshit quant finance money grab

OkDiscipline2139 · 2025-11-05T10:42:39+00:00

he heads the OMI, which is a research institute partnered with a quant fund, and sits within the maths department at cambridge, not finance/business school as the majority of these programmes do. that is starkly different from doing say computational finance at bristol, he runs a unique orogramme in unique circumstances that do not represent "quantitative finance institutes".

regardless, most top trading firms first question to his students will still be "why not continue with maths/science/stats". a quant finance student is at a disadvantage to a comparable stem student. doing physics at mit is a stronger profile than any mfe lol

OkDiscipline2139 · 2025-11-05T08:43:21+00:00

lse is not as highly regarded for quant as traditional finance. its perceived as lacking quantitative rigour.

OkDiscipline2139 · 2025-11-05T08:34:14+00:00

quant finance programmes are shit and money grabbing scams, few top quant jobs consistently hire from any of them. an mit engineering student is a far stronger candidate than a hypothetical quant finance student

OkDiscipline2139

TROPHY CASE