Quantopian's community platform is shutting down. Please read this post for more information and download your code.
Back to Community
Can Quantopian allow out of sample 6 month paper trade of more than 3 algos per user?
Leo M
posted Jul 13, 2017

Quantopian open rule #6 states that " Each Participant may submit up to 3 algorithms to the contest.". I wonder if there is any way I can write an algorithm that is not entered into the contest but still paper traded for six months and I can see the backtest score and paper trade score.

Looks like Q fund eligibility requires 6 month paper trade and the only way to satisfy that is to enter the algo in a contest. Having a limit of 3 algos in that process seems to be pretty lame. I don't care about contest or its prize money, I think the majority of the members don't care about it either (the prize money is just not that great to get super excited about). Everyone on this site in my opinion is more interested in getting an allocation. Towards that purpose I don't understand the limitation of 3 algos per user.

What to do after writing 3 algos and submitting it into contest? Sit and wait for 6 months?

I don't think most members would mind paying a subscription fees or per algo paper trading six month fees if that is what is constraining Quantopian from paper trading (outside of the contest) more than 3 algorithms per user for that out of sample 6 month period.

Having a user have the ability to get more than 3 algos paper traded for 6 months (outside the confines of the contest) gives Quantopian more choices as well. So seems like a good fit with both sides here.

3 responses
Jamie McCorriston
Jul 13, 2017

Hi Leo,

You can paper trade algorithms without submitting to the contest. If you run a full backtest, you can click "Live Trade Algorithm", and then select Quantopian Paper Trading as the option.

That being said, I want to point out that all of your algorithms will be evaluated for an allocation, regardless if you paper trade them or not. We need 6 months of out of sample data, but there's no requirement that the strategy was actually paper traded. In another post, Dan explained the evaluation process like this:

"Keep in mind that our allocation process includes a 6 month out-of-sample evaluation period. When we make allocations in January 2018, many of the algorithms will have been written during this month of June. All you have to do is run a backtest or enter a contest. When you do, we store a snapshot of your code and evaluate the performance of those snapshots in 6 months, making you eligible for an allocation. As always, we don’t look at your code during our evaluation process; instead, we look only at the algorithm’s simulation exhaust."

Does this help?

Disclaimer

The material on this website is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation or endorsement for any security or strategy, nor does it constitute an offer to provide investment advisory services by Quantopian. In addition, the material offers no opinion with respect to the suitability of any security or specific investment. No information contained herein should be regarded as a suggestion to engage in or refrain from any investment-related course of action as none of Quantopian nor any of its affiliates is undertaking to provide investment advice, act as an adviser to any plan or entity subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, individual retirement account or individual retirement annuity, or give advice in a fiduciary capacity with respect to the materials presented herein. If you are an individual retirement or other investor, contact your financial advisor or other fiduciary unrelated to Quantopian about whether any given investment idea, strategy, product or service described herein may be appropriate for your circumstances. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Quantopian makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of the views expressed in the website. The views are subject to change, and may have become unreliable for various reasons, including changes in market conditions or economic circumstances.

Leo M
Jul 13, 2017

Hi Jamie, yes it helps. Sorry I misunderstood your process and made some incorrect deductions.

It is all clear to me now and reassuring to know that I can continue to keep coding algos even after hitting my 3 algo limit in the contest. I can also start exploring the futures trading algorithms right away without waiting for the futures contest to start. For the same mistaken reasons I had not yet started to explore the futures algos. I was operating under a false assumption that the contests are gateways into the allocation.

Thanks for clarifying the evaluation process. It all makes sense to me now.

Blue Seahawk
Jul 13, 2017

Does that apply to any backtest in the IDE or only full backtests?
How often does one need to open paper trading code to keep them from being automatically stopped?

About Quantopian
Careers
Community
Events
Documentation
Academia
Lectures
Status
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy

The material on this website is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation or endorsement for any security or strategy, nor does it constitute an offer to provide investment advisory services by Quantopian.

In addition, the material offers no opinion with respect to the suitability of any security or specific investment. No information contained herein should be regarded as a suggestion to engage in or refrain from any investment-related course of action as none of Quantopian nor any of its affiliates is undertaking to provide investment advice, act as an adviser to any plan or entity subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, individual retirement account or individual retirement annuity, or give advice in a fiduciary capacity with respect to the materials presented herein. If you are an individual retirement or other investor, contact your financial advisor or other fiduciary unrelated to Quantopian about whether any given investment idea, strategy, product or service described herein may be appropriate for your circumstances. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Quantopian makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of the views expressed in the website. The views are subject to change, and may have become unreliable for various reasons, including changes in market conditions or economic circumstances.