"Dark Pools"

I just started reading "Dark Pools" and I'm confused as to how one starts an algo/hft trading firm. Three guys discussed in the book so far are Blair Hull, Dan Mathisson, and Haim Bodek. Two of the guys have math degrees, but no CS. So my question is: do these guys pick up the coding aptitude on the side or do the people that start these firms come up with an idea and employ programmers to code it for them? Do they actually have to know how to code the idea they've developed? I know you learn some programming when getting a math degree but I doubt it's enough for writing code this complex.

 

If you know anything about programming you should know it was basically born out of the mathematical proofs of Kurt Godel and Alan Turing; two extremely capable mathematicians, before a computer (in the 21st century sense) even existed. Programming in its truest form is mathematical formal language based on logic, as a result, every well trained mathematician (after analysis abstract algebra and logic) is completely capable of handling any programming language.

It's a matter of learning syntax. They may perhaps need to learn data structures but many mathematicians have taken such a course so mathematicians may actually be better programmers than computer science majors.

 

Both. The advancing coding will probably be done by quants these days, but these guys are generally the one employing the ideas (or the one the ideas go all the way up to and they might sign off on them). Originally, some of the code/ideas would probably have been done by them.

With the exception of a few (Jane Street comes to mind), most MDs/management will be not be going through an algorithm trading code.

Dark pool gaming is definitely a difficult area (a bit zero-sum), but it would be something I wish I could do at the moment.

 

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