LONDON DATA
Trading Systems Technology
(Trading) Operations
What is it you do for the business?
Model Services
The model has data needs, pricing needs, infrastructure, an operational framework, PMS, OMS, connectivity, and plenty more.
Quant Implementation
Work with the researchers to onboard their models into the production framework.
Backtesting, walk-forward, new markets, new strategy variants.
Building the research framework, data aggregations, signal pipelines, and much more.
Trading Operations
Day-to-day production operations as the model creator intended (as per backtest) in a live multi-strategy, multi-fund, mission critical setting and handling point-in-time nuances.
Cross function and multi-hat role.
Trading Operations
Managing systematic trading on a day to day basis requires a blend of knowledge of the models, markets, pre-post-trade processes, and the underlying technology. This usually is a cross-functional activity.
pre-trade, pre-signal-generation
.... data availability, corporate actions impacting price series and position holdings, cleaning and validation, limits and restrictions, handle existing working orders.
pre-trade, post-signal-generation
... validate trade set and target portfolio characteristics, allocations to multiple funds, netting and crossing from multiple strategies, algo selection, order generation to OMS.
post-trade
... manage fills, partials, cancellations; reconcile to desk, PB, admin.
and
...continuous monitoring of positions, flows, limits, data validations, SOD and EOD activities and trading of non-model events such as futures rolls and corporate actions. Ideally all automated with only exception-based intervention.
Trading Operations continued ...
PRE-TRADE
pre-signal generation
model input checks
cleaning & validation
flows/rebalancing/gearing
post-signal generation
pre-trade analysis
netting/crossing
fund allocations
algo-selection
POST TRADE
fills/partials/cancels
portfolio exposures
trade cost analysis
reconciliations
AND
futures rolls trades
corporate actions trades
corporate handling adjustments
start-of-day
end-of-day
scheduling
limits and risk
Model Services
Market data, pricing aggregations, OMS, PMS (positions and portfolio), risk, data central (static), connectivity, SRE, infrastructure, contingency, reconciliation framework, integration and interface with departmental systems (ops, risk, tech, analytics).
I have experience building many of these services from scratch. Plus integration with the major market data vendors (Bloomberg, Definitive, FACTSET, WorldScope, ).
Quant Implementation
Getting the model up and running. Transitioning from research into production framework. Providing model specific services such as data feeds, universe, position management, risk checks, and validation at appropriate phases. Adding asset classes, new markets, and new trading capability.