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Hi folks,

I'm a new Quantopian member. I'm a scientist by profession and my interest in stock trading comes from my interest in physics and psychology. I am interested in crafting an algorithm to test in a contest. But I only know MatLab. I've never once used Python in my life. I've done the codecademy course and I get the basics. But I am confused about why everyone always imports NumPy and Pandas at the beginning of their algorithms. I can't pick out which functions and operators come from these libraries and which don't.

Since quantopian practically uses it's own entire system to begin with (initialize, portfolio, handle_data, etc.), I'm a bit confused about the interfacing required to make all of these different libraries, Python's native syntax, and quantopian-specific code work in harmony. Any advice is appreciated.

I also have to ask: with so many high-performing algorithms available to clone (good metrics and everything), how does the contest not end up being a bunch of people cloning the same top-performing algorithms that they collaborated on or just snatched from the forum? It is a little discouraging to think that I could just as easily clone and enter an algorithm I had no part in writing for the contest as could I code my own, probably far cruder in terms of coding language, theoretical system. With administrators pledging not to read code, it seems impossible to regulate.

Thanks,
Jordan

3 responses

Luca

You might be interested in this tutorials, great but still easy to understand: https://www.quantopian.com/posts/quantopian-tutorial-series

Miko Nukka

Hello

I am also new here and I have found this channel to be rather interesting and helpful learning python & quantopian together.

Alisa Deychman

Jordan, welcome! Luca and Miko shared some good resources to learn, and here are some others:

Quantopian API Resources
- Lesson 1: Learn the Basics of the IDE: https://www.quantopian.com/posts/quantopian-webinar-lesson-1-the-basics-of-the-ide
- Lesson 2: Universe, Fetcher, Schedule_Function: https://www.quantopian.com/posts/quantopian-tutorial-with-portfolio-rebalance-algorithm-lesson-2-universe-fetcher-and-schedule-function
- Lesson 3: Working with Fundamental Data: https://www.quantopian.com/posts/quantopian-tutorial-lesson-3-basic-fundamentals-with-piotroski-score-growth-stocks-and-uptrending-volatile-small-cap-algorithms
- Once you've mastered those, checkout the more advanced statistical lectures: https://www.quantopian.com/lectures

Python Beginner Resources
- Code Academy - http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/python (sounds like you're done this one)
- Python tutorial - https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/
- Dive into Python - http://www.diveintopython.net/
- Learn Python - http://www.learnpython.org/

Finance Resources
- Khan Academy on Finance - https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance
- Coursera on Finance - https://www.coursera.org/course_id=452&r=class.coursera.org%2Fcompfinance
- Quantitative Trading: How to Build Your Own Algorithmic Trading Business - http://www.amazon.com/Quantitative-Trading-Build-Algorithmic-Business/dp/0470284889
- Fortune's Formula: The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System That Beat the Casinos and Wall Street - http://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Formula-Scientific-Betting-Casinos/dp/0809045990

As for the contest, you can submit any algorithm - your own or from the forums. Keep in mind that one prize will be awarded, so if multiple people submit the same cloned algo, they will all split the prize. The community was created as a place for people to share ideas, learn, and collaborate. Hopefully the material will help you learn more about quant trading and how the process works. Our goal is to make the data, tools, infrastructure and capital, available to everybody - not just those sitting within certain offices. I encourage you to try the tutorials, learn how to code an algorithm, understand why the algo behaves in the manner it does, and then start coding on your own. Then when you're ready, submit your work to the contest. The contest is a gateway to being selected for our hedge fund, and everyone has an equal shot to have their algo considered.

Disclaimer

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