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Complete Noob, where to start?
Austin Snair
posted
Getting Started

I'm sorry if this isn't the right place (I'm assuming it isn't), but I'm not sure where to go.

I'm an 18 yo "aspiring" trader, and I have a few questions about all of this, but first a little context:
I've been coding for quite awhile in .NET and some Java, and I would describe myself as a computer type more than an investing type. That being said, I've read some of the classic investing books (The Intelligent Investor, The Warren Buffet Way, etc) and I think I know what it's about, such as buying low and selling high, leaving out emotions and the like. I know some of the fundamentals anyway. To start on this platform, I need to learn python (not too worried about this, I consider myself a coder), all the investing terms (like everything on the risk metrics page, alpha, beta, sharpe, etc) and statistics I suppose, I've seen linear regression references among other things, which I believe is a fundamental part of stats?

Anyway, would this be the right type of platform for me? I'd rather not do something like Etrade where they have high fees and they do investing, not trading. I'm not afraid of the learning curve, and I'd like to try to apply my computer foundation to trading on a technical basis, even if that means it will be a few years until I start making money. So do you think this is a good idea? Or should I wait until after college? Also, what might be a rough time estimate on when I could start using a decent algo to make money, considering all I have to learn?

Thanks for any help, and I hope to be a contributor to this community in the future!

-Austin

4 responses
Alisa Deychman

Austin, welcome to Quantopian! It's exciting that you're starting early and hitting the ground running. You can learn entirely on this platform - teach yourself python by working through examples, explore different trading strategies in the backtester, and try paper trading your ideas. The best part is it's risk-free; the IDE is a sandbox environment where you can play and if you find something that sticks, you can also paper trade for free to simulate the strategy in the current market.

To get started learning the Quantopian API, pick up the finance concepts, and get your hands on python, take a look at these resources: https://www.quantopian.com/posts/new-to-this-whole-thing

Also, when you're feeling comfortable with python, then take a look at the pandas module. Here is a tutorial that was shared by Scott, one of our engineers: https://www.quantopian.com/posts/working-with-history-dataframes

Cheers,
Alisa

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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.

Austin Snair

Thank you very much Alisa, it looks like I've come to the right place! Sorry for not seeing that thread earlier.

-Austin

Alisa Deychman

No problem! If you are looking for other algo ideas or debugging code, try searching the community threads. We're currently working to upgrade our search engine, but in the meantime I use a customized google search

nathan bendich

Hi all,

Just wanted to say thanks to Alisa for being so friendly and helping us noobs out. Happy coding!

-Nathan

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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.