Resources for learning the Finance side of Algorithmic Trading?

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Resources for learning the Finance side of Algorithmic Trading?

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Finance Theory Seeking Help Getting Started Lectures

I'm an experienced Python, Machine Learning developer, but I know absolutely nothing about Finance and Trading. Algorithmic Trading seems interesting, and I've decided to spend significant effort and time into learning it.

The lectures and tutorials on this website are easy to follow from a developer's perspective. However, I often feel that I'm learning the "how" of things, without understanding the "why"s. The fact that I end up having to Google every finance related term doesn't help either.

There are tons of online resources to learn finance, but like with any major field, there's too many, and a beginner doesn't know where to start and what to learn. I don't want to spend 6 months learning a finance topic that will end up being only marginally relevant to algorithmic trading.

With this in mind, could you please point me to the relevant topics and resources for learning the "why" side of these trading algorithms, and the finance lingo. Thanks a ton :)

3 responses

This book was the standard, its a bit old now, but the basics are still the same: https://www.amazon.com/Algorithmic-Trading-DMA-introduction-strategies/dp/0956399207

This book looks beefy! Thanks a lot :)

From a review at https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RAAXLL3O8BCT3/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl:

Being an electrical engineer with a fair amount of algorithm development experience, I could understand some of the more technical aspects. However, I still find some of the financial and market terminology is rather elusive.

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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.