I work as a platform developer at a major market making firm and do some swing trading on my personal account with decent results. Lately I’ve become really curious about quantitative trading strategies and high frequency trading but I’m not sure how to begin my learning journey.
I don’t want to ask colleagues at work because I’m worried they might think I want to change teams and that could create problems for me.
My experience:
• Lots of experience with major crypto exchanges
• Did some DEX market making and arbitrage trading with memecoins between different pools. It was profitable but I know it’s not really serious quantitative work
• My coding abilities are strong but I need a clear learning path for the quantitative aspects
What I’m wondering:
• Which books, courses or learning materials are best for understanding quant trading and HFT basics?
• Should I start with mathematical theory like stochastic processes and market microstructure or jump straight into building simple strategies and infrastructure?
• Any good open source projects or data sources I should experiment with?
• What’s the smartest way for someone in my position to develop these skills without causing issues at my current job?
Would really appreciate any guidance or suggestions.
Honestly, you’ve got a solid foundation! That memecoin arbitrage is more legit than you think - quant shops love seeing real market experience.
I’m curious though - when you were doing DEX market making, did you notice patterns in how spreads moved during different market conditions? That intuition is gold for HFT development.
For learning materials, check out the academic papers big firms actually use. QuantLib has decent open source implementations to dig into. But since you’re already at a MM firm, can you access internal presentations or research notes without raising flags? Sometimes the best insights come from seeing how your own company tackles problems.
Here’s a thought - frame it as wanting to understand the trading side better to improve your platform development. Might let you have those conversations at work without looking like you want to jump ship.
What timeframes were you working with on those arbitrage trades? Milliseconds, seconds, minutes? That’ll help figure out whether to focus on ultra-low latency stuff or longer-term statistical strategies first.
u’re already ahead of most in quant! that dex arbitrage shows u get market dynamics. i suggest starting with simple mean reversion strategies on crypto since u know the exchanges. try zipline or backtrader for backtesting instead of shelling out for pricey platforms.