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What is a factor?

I'm trying to understand what exactly is meant by the term "factor."

I've spent a while searching Quantopian and the internet, and I cannot find a definition in the context of algo writing.

I'm sure there is a simple explanation, but I cannot find it!

1 response

A factor is just another word for a variable that you believe has predictive powers of stock returns. Pipeline is optimized for factor based trading, which is basically a system of scoring stocks based on a combination of factors.