Quantitative Research Consultant at WorldQuant LLC

Recently I’ve been accepted into WorldQuant’s research consultant program. Right now, the first round of eliminations has not occurred but for all prospective researchers, here is a personal valuation on the program.

The Basics: WorldQuant Virtual Research Center

As a quantitative research consultant, my job is to use statistical methods and matrices of market data such as returns, closing price, highs, lows, and so on to create market indicators.

The WebSim simulator allows individuals to back test their “alphas” or market indicators.

WorldQuant provides training in the development of these market indicators and gives a very basic understanding of statistical arbitrage.

This job can be done remotely and at any hour of the day which makes it really convenient for those who are participating in other jobs. However, if you don’t put in the time, you won’t see results unless you’re capable of coming up with good market indicators or ideas in a short amount of time given the numerous variables you are handed.

Successful contestants are offered varying amounts of prize money and some are also handed a consulting contract which is the ultimate prize for contestants.

The Idea: Leveraging STEM Knowledge for the Markets

Essentially, the firm wants to extend this opportunity to STEM majors so that they can implement various ways of thinking logically and also use the tools that they’ve been given to create these statistical models. Hence, they’re seeing how well engineering/math/physics majors can take this market data and manipulate in a favorable way that produces long term profitable outcomes.

Difficulty: Need to Generate and Back-test Ideas

While creating an expression may seem as easy as multiplying or dividing or taking the standard deviation of different sets of data, it is not. Contestants have to develop their own ideas and tinker with them until your idea shows favorable back-tested results.

The simulation screen has a ‘random’ button that you can press to create a randomized expression. However, this rarely provides anything but poor outcomes. Hence why I’ve submitted upwards of 450 expressions with less than 5 that perform with an ‘average’ rating.

Opinion: Can You Withstand Market Volatility?

Honestly, from what I know about the program and have heard in general, the market is always unpredictable. So, there doesn’t really appear to be an empirical way to go about creating spectacular performing alphas. It’s a lot of revising and crossed fingers.

However, the most recent webinars have been basic training and the ones to come are more advanced. I am hoping that these more advanced training sessions will provide more insight into the program and provide me with a better understanding of what my position does.

On a side note, if you’ve competed in this program before, please reach out to me! I’d love to hear your opinion and suggestions.