ALGORITHMIC

TRADING @ UCLA
WEEK 1
OVERVIEW

• What is Algo
Trading?
• Who we are &
what we are about
• Expectations
• Education
• Requirements
• Have Fun!
 WHAT IS ALGORITHMIC
TRADING?
• You are programming a set of instructions to automate
the trading process, based on a set of conditions.
• With that being said, the main aim of it is to well…
make profit!
• To do this successfully, one needs to understand how to
program and have market intuitions.
• You come up with a strategy and test if it can make
money.
• If yes….. RETIRE
• If no…. Write an academic paper on it.
 WHAT WE ARE ABOUT

• School is very good with theory, but somewhat lacking in

application.
• In particular, we couldn’t find many opportunities in regards to the
field of quant work, quantitative trading, algorithmic trading, real
world cases, and participating in competitions in the area.
• So we decided to teach ourselves and other students who would
be interested
• In particular, we are trying to combine the theories and
methodologies learned in class to applications in the market such
as: equities, futures, FX….
 EXPECTATIONS
• We want to help students understand financial data
and learn to program
• Empower them with the skills, passion, and enthusiasm
to explore on their own and test out different algorithms
• Help students break into industry or program on their
own
• Create a community, where students can find others
interested and help each other out.
 HOW ARE WE GONNA
DO THIS
• Each week we will be teaching about a topic and subject in finance
• We will be showing how to code in Python
• We will be encouraging others to follow suit
• NO TESTS OR QUIZES
• First half to be lecturing on theory the other half will be code it yourself
project
 WHY PYTHON?
• Popularity
• Machine Learning Libraries
• Highly Demanded in Industry
• Comparatively Easy to learn
• Use in trading competitions
• You can use it for live trading by using Broker API’s
• Implement backtests in Quantopian, Quanconnect, or
in house
 COURSE REFERENCING
• The topics we will be covering will borrow material learned
from different coursework:

• Economics – Economic Intuition, Framework, and

Understanding
• 103: Econometrics (data analysis)
• 144: Economic Forecasting (time series)
• 123: FX Forecasting
• 147: 106F,
• Statistics: 100A, 101A, 101C, 102B, 131, 183
• PIC: 16
• CS: 180, M146