How ‘algos’ changed the rhythm of the market

Financial Times (subscription)

There has been a flurry of finger-pointing by one-time masters of the universe who argue that the swelling influence of computer-powered quant investors and high-frequency traders is wreaking havoc on markets and rendering old-fashioned analysis and common sense obsolete. Read More

Hedge funds have lost their rhythm, and that’s fine

Bloomberg (subscription)

In a counterpoint to the above FT article, Bloomberg’s Matt Levine argues that fund managers who complain about losing their mojo are whining about something that’s generally beneficial. If markets are more difficult to anticipate because of algorithmic trading, that’s a good thing. Read More

Lessons from history on the dangers of blind trust in data

Financial Times

Businesses and government are learning that the information they collect can mislead. Correlations are sometimes spurious, incentives can be gamed, and data can be, and often is, deceptive. Read More

Will machine learning transform finance?

Yale Insights

Charles Elkan, Goldman Sachs’ global head of machine learning, talks to The Yale School of Management about about how financial services firms are capitalizing on the new era of data. Read More

The business case for alternative data

Adena Friedman, LinkedIn

Following the exchange’s Quandl acquisition, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman explains the value of alternative data. Read More

The hedge funds that are doing the most hiring right now

eFinancialCareers

Alternative data provider Thinknum went to LinkedIn to pull out some recent figures for big-name hedge funds, looking at total headcount during the third quarter and comparing it to the end of the year. Read More

A data privacy lawsuit may have implications for investors

Barron’s

A new lawsuit against an app-maker that collects location information could impact investors ability to use new kinds of data – like cellphone location information and credit card transaction stats – to gain insights about consumer behavior that will help them pick stocks. Read More

The six most useful machine learning projects of 2018

Towards Data Science

The most useful ML projects of 2018 may not be the most theoretically groundbreaking works, but they are relevant and practical. Read More

Quant funds among winners in a year with many losers

CNBC

In a review of 2018 hedge fund performance, CNBC found that investors chose quant funds and larger, established names will be pleasantly surprised in what was otherwise a challenging year in a variety of markets. Read More