Alpha Innovation Required: The Inaugural Conference

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Ultimately everyone on the buy-side is looking for one of two things – an idea for what to trade, or a way to get more money to be able to trade.
A key phrase from the event that struck a chord with many attendees was “human latency”, which is essentially the concept of being able to just speed up the human part of the equation. Making it easier for the trader to see what is happening and where their involvement is needed. A parallel trend is the growing amount of technology that is able to streamline workflow away from the desk itself, automatically selecting algos and venues for trading, pushing the liquid vanilla orders out without input according to the PM’s opinion of where the stock will go and the trading environment of that day.

Data is being generated faster and in greater quantity than at any other time in human history, but the tools and technologies to harness the beast are rapidly developing. Their transition to financial services has just begun, but if the vendors and delegates at this conference are anything to go by, there is a wealth of demand and a plethora of potential solutions out there.