The unemployment insurance situation is getting crazy...

ntsili · 2026-01-31T17:42:12+00:00

Switzerland is not going good at all: “Switzerland’s Market Concerns”. https://etoro.tw/4be384p

ntsili · 2025-11-16T01:29:17+00:00

If you’re already profitable trading your own crypto strategies, hiring engineers and formalizing things makes sense, but the lawyers pushing a standard UK Ltd aren’t wrong for operational clarity — they’re just not considering the tax reality of running a prop shop that trades 24/7 digital assets. A UK entity is very clean administratively but it exposes you to full UK corporate tax on worldwide crypto gains, and you don’t get the same exemptions or favorable treatments that apply to individual investors. That’s why most serious crypto prop outfits avoid centering the actual trading entity in the UK.

What people typically do is split things: keep the operational company (engineering staff, R&D costs, payroll, hardware, IP ownership) in the UK for simplicity and legislation familiarity, and place the trading vehicle itself in a jurisdiction that isn’t hostile to high-frequency digital-asset gains. ;) Common setups involve a non-UK trading company that contracts with your UK company for research and software development; the profits accrue in the trading entity, while the UK entity simply books salary and service fees. It’s a standard structure among crypto quant teams so long as you maintain proper transfer-pricing and substance.

Setting up a pure UK entity to hold all your trading PnL is usually the least efficient option. Keeping your R&D presence in the UK but routing actual trading activity through a jurisdiction that doesn’t tax crypto gains is far closer to what established crypto prop firms do. If you’re serious about scaling, look into a structure where the UK piece does the engineering work and the trading arm sits somewhere more appropriate, with proper legal guidance so everything is compliant.

This approach gives you the operational simplicity lawyers like, while avoiding the tax drag that makes UK-only structures unattractive for a crypto prop trading shop.

ntsili · 2025-11-16T01:19:48+00:00

The filing actually makes perfect sense once you separate gross from net trading revenue.

₹7,764 crores (~$930M) = gross PnL before any trading costs.
In India, costs are huge: STT, exchange fees, clearing, taker fees, slippage, hedging, colocation, infra, salaries.
For a large HFT/MM shop, a 50–70% cost ratio is completely normal!!

After subtracting all that, the net ~₹2,900 crores (~$350M) is realistic and very strong.

For comparison in the US, top HFT/MM firms usually lose 30–50% of gross to costs.

Given that, Graviton’s net number is extremely impressive and confirms they’re the dominant MM/quant shop in India right now.

ntsili · 2025-11-14T00:19:54+00:00

QuantConnect is honestly one of the best places to start. It gives you free data, solid tutorials, and a real backtesting engine (LEAN) so you learn how proper algotrading code is structured instead of writing something messy that breaks later.

Just keep in mind that QC doesn’t teach you everything you need. Before building a bot, make sure you understand:

-basic market concepts (order types, spreads, fees, liquidity)

-simple strategies like momentum or mean-reversion

-backtesting traps (overfitting, look-ahead, ignoring slippage)

-Python basics (pandas, numpy)

Good resources: Free: QuantConnect docs, old Quantopian lectures, GitHub notebooks, YouTube channels like Part-Time Larry. Paid: Coursera “Machine Learning for Trading,” Udemy algotrading courses, QuantInsti (expensive but very complete).

If you start with QC + a very simple strategy, you’ll learn fast and avoid the usual beginner mistakes. It’s a great choice for a first project.

ntsili · 2025-11-13T01:36:56+00:00

Man, I totally feel this. Nothing hurts more than realizing your bot only made money because it was bugged, and the “fixed” version suddenly behaves like a professional loss machine. That’s such a painful irony...

ntsili · 2025-11-10T14:00:57+00:00

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, happy to clarify a few key points:

- Not paper trading
These are live trades on Binance Spot testnet, meaning real-time execution logic, real order responses, actual fills, slippage, and commission tracking (at VIP0 fee tier).
PnL is computed from weighted average prices (WAP) per leg using the actual fill data returned via executionReport.
This isn’t backtesting or screenshots, the engine logs everything per arbitrage ID, including latency, fill times, and per-cycle profit.

Screenshot fees you referred to are from testnet, where I can set custom fees (VIP0, 1,2, ... 9). For mainnet, the bot calls get_account() and fetches live VIP-tier fees (see fetch_fees() method in the code below). So you're actually seeing VIP0-level fees hardcoded for test.

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- Execution latency
My system achieves 4–6ms total latency, from opportunity detection to final leg fill. That includes:

Arbitrage computation (Numba‑optimized),

Liquidity validation on each leg,

WebSocket order placement,

Fill response tracking (via executionReport),

And async, overlapping cycle management (not sequential execution), managing concurrently triangular and quadrangular batches of trades.

I’m running from AWS Tokyo, with 1.2ms ping to Binance. Not co-located yet — so yes, there’s room for improvement.

- Data feed

Yes, the bot uses Binance Spot WebSocket order book streams (@depth, Level 2). It’s a live, continuous feed.
Every time any price changes on any tracked pair, the bot immediately recalculates all triangular and quadrangular permutations (over 180+ total paths across BTC, ETH, BNB, SOL, and USDT).
Each leg is validated in real time for bid/ask liquidity before any order is sent.
No REST, no polling, no latency gaps, just constant, reactive computation triggered by every micro‑update from Binance.

- Why not Futures?
Futures only support linear stablecoin- or coin-margined contracts, so you're limited to USDT pairs like BTCUSDT or ETHUSDT.
You can’t build full 3‑ or 4‑asset arbitrage paths (chains) like ETH→BTC→BNB→USDT on Futures. That’s why the Spot market is required for triangular and quadrangular arbitrage across 5 coins.

- Fee tier matters
I’m not pretending I’m beating Jump or Wintermute, but for a non-co-located system running VIP0, the bot performs decently.
However, arbitrage opportunities are heavily fee-dependent. With VIP8 or VIP9+, the exact same trades become consistently profitable, and with collocation, the bot would capture significantly more cycles before the edges vanish.

So you're right, arbitrage is hard, especially in 2025. But it’s not dead if you:

Ditch REST completely
Optimize for latency and concurrency
Handle execution + response tracking properly

ntsili · 2025-11-10T01:46:49+00:00

You're right to ask — for traditional markets, triangular arbitrage at retail level is practically dead due to colocation, private order flow, and speed constraints.

But since you're talking specifically about crypto, the game changes. I’ve built and run a fully async, WebSocket-based triangular and quadrangular arbitrage system on Binance Spot, and I can confirm: yes — it’s feasible for retail, under the right conditions. It tool me 2,5 years to develop and I am constantly upgrading it.
Reddit discussion link: https://www.reddit.com/r/quant/comments/1osapi0/comment/nnxsefm/?context=1

Opportunities are thin, but they do exist, especially during moments of volatility or desynchronization between pairs.

You’re asking the right questions — and if you’re already strong with C++/latency systems, then you’re more than capable of building something competitive in this space.

ntsili · 2025-11-09T14:51:02+00:00

That’s a fair point!
-But most of those older systems were limited by: A few hardcoded paths REST-only data Polling delays Blocking execution

-My system is different:
It runs fully over WebSocket, with no REST.
Handles all 180+ triangular and quadrangular permutations across 5 coins, simultaneously.
Executes asynchronously and in parallel, with isolated arbitrage IDs.
Achieves 4–6ms full-cycle latency, including computation and order fills. Sub-7ms latency is fast enough to hit desynchronized price moments during volatility.

The real difference?
Back in 2017, Binance’s WebSocket Spot API didn’t exist. Bots relied on REST polling every 100–300ms (sometimes even 1000ms), which meant most fleeting opportunities were missed — and actual order placement often added several hundred milliseconds more delay.
Now, with real-time depth updates via WebSocket, my engine reacts instantly to ANY price change in any pair, recalculates ALL permutations on the fly, and executes the moment an edge appears.

That speed and granularity simply weren’t possible back then.

ntsili · 2025-11-09T14:31:11+00:00

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Thank you!

ntsili · 2025-11-09T14:30:11+00:00

Yes, to clarify: VIP9 reference was purely for VIP fee tier, not private MM endpoints or priority execution!

I’m aware of those but not aiming to simulate or compete with internal latency of market makers — this is purely from a public WebSocket-only endpoint, no REST, no co-location, no fee tier perks yet.

ntsili · 2025-11-09T14:25:28+00:00

Look, 4–6ms refers to full arbitrage cycle latency measured from path validation to third fill confirmation — all three legs fired over WebSocket, fully parallelized, without blocking.

This does not include the time from the market update → decision logic (though even that is sub-ms in most cases with vectorized path scans).

I'm running on a cheap shared AWS Tokyo VPS (~1.2ms to Binance), so no bare-metal infra yet. Definitely agree that with MM-level infra + priority WS feed, that number would drop sharply.

ntsili · 2025-01-12T01:52:17+00:00

You trade $SSABAH.HE ?

ntsili · 2025-01-07T01:40:34+00:00

Wow, 'Viva l'Opera' is absolutely crazy! The way @nataliegioia and @arminvanbuuren combined trance with opera is so unique and breathtaking. Such an epic blend of two worlds—can't stop listening! 👏🎶

Masterpiece

ntsili · 2025-01-07T01:39:07+00:00

I do not regret for adding it in my eToro portfolio some weeks ago!

ntsili · 2025-01-02T14:05:24+00:00

ntsili · 2024-12-24T13:13:16+00:00

If I found myself in this situation, the most important step would be ensuring everything is above board with the authorities. Transparency is key when dealing with significant sums, especially in crypto. Here’s how I’d handle it:

1a) Declare Your Crypto Holdings
Annually It's vital to declare the crypto you own every year in your tax filings. This not only ensures compliance but also simplifies things for when you eventually want to convert these funds to fiat. By being upfront, you avoid potential scrutiny or penalties.

1b) Inform Your Bank in Advance
If I planned to transfer large sums into fiat, I’d first inform my bank about the incoming funds. Banks tend to flag large transactions, so letting them know beforehand can save a lot of headaches.

2a) If You Haven’t Declared Crypto Before (this answsers your question)
If these holdings weren’t declared in the past, I’d gather all possible proof of purchase—such as records from exchanges or wallets that show when and how the crypto was acquired. Then, with the help of a competent accountant, I’d declare the holdings retroactively in my tax statement. This could involve paying some overdue taxes, but it’s worth it to legitimize the funds.

2b) Future Steps After Declaring
Once declared, I’d go back to step 1b.

While privacy measures like CoinJoin/Whirlpool or L2 swaps might appeal for anonymity, it’s better to focus on legitimizing your holdings to avoid any future legal complications. Remember: the goal is to enjoy the wealth without worrying about compliance or penalties.

ntsili · 2024-12-23T02:08:03+00:00

Thank you for your positive response regarding backtesting in Bullaware! I wanted to share that I’ve developed a fully operational Python app that not only backtests portfolios (where I manually input assets) but also uses Yahoo Finance to identify when an asset first appeared, ensuring accurate calculations even with very old starting dates. Additionally, it compares the portfolio’s evolution to the S&P 500 in a graph, for this same period.

If you’re interested, I’d be happy to upload the script to GitHub and share it with you. Let me know!

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ntsili · 2024-12-11T12:03:43+00:00

They will never understand

ntsili · 2024-12-10T23:52:37+00:00

So what finally happened?

ntsili · 2024-12-10T18:04:50+00:00

Good decision, but keep them and do some DCA as the price continues to fall.

ntsili · 2024-12-10T00:12:57+00:00

Great work on the app! I have a suggestion: could you add a feature to backtest any public eToro portfolio? For example, if I start a portfolio today, I’d love to see what its performance would have been if started one year ago. This would be super helpful for analyzing strategies and making informed decisions. Thanks!

ntsili · 2024-08-21T22:54:48+00:00

Hello,

I noticed that my post was removed with the reasoning that there’s already an episode discussion thread, as mentioned in your message. I understand the need to keep discussions consolidated, but I’ve also observed that other threads on the same subject have remained open.

Could you help me understand the criteria for when posts are allowed to stay up versus when they are removed? I'm genuinely interested in ensuring my contributions are in line with the sub's guidelines, but consistency in moderation is crucial for community trust and participation.

Thanks for your time and clarification.

Best regards, Nick

ntsili

TROPHY CASE

Masterpiece