Well, not sure how else to say it but there's 0 benefit in Simons saying _anything_ that might give insight into how Rentec operates. He's been secretive about it his entire life.
Imo, there is no "secret." There is just a bunch of smart people in a room, constantly turning out and testing ideas.
They were some of the first to apply linear regression and what we know as "machine learning" to equities. Edward Thorpe is another dude to look into.
Their trading really took off after hiring some IBM engineers (accounting for their ramp up time). Those engineers were working on speech detection. I think it really is just a matter of having an insanely smart set of people, working on a problem in a room together... with the capital to back it up. IMO, Jim Simons alone couldn't do it _but_ he is/was arguably one of the best mathematicians of our time. That certainly had to have helped.
I got a bit off track, but regarding your comment here:
>has Simons every said anything interesting
What are you looking for? Do you mean in regard to rentec or just in general? I've done a lot of research on them. I could take a stab at answering them. (for reference, I operate a small algotrading shop but have always been interested in the history of algo trading)
I meant in general. I'm a smart educated person and I like listening to smart educated people, doesn't matter what they're interested in, doesn't matter if I like them or agree with them. I find Bill Gates a huge disappointment, not claiming he's dumb, but he just doesn't say interesting things. His philanthropic work is a bore: it's all just too big and obvious, I might as well just look at a list of things the United Nations is up to. Not saying there's anything wrong with it, but him talking about it doesn't interest me.
Same with Simons. He's gotta be smart, but I guess he just doesn't talk.
I don’t know if we’re listening to the same people, but both Bill Gates and Jim Simons say very insightful things. You do need to know what they’re talking about or hinting at. What I’d do to chat with either of them.
For one, the Numberphile interview with Simons another commenter linked to. You can tell a lot about what he thinks is important if you listen carefully.
Yes, it will be hard to get much from Simons. I think he is a man that knows his strengths and weaknesses and I feel he keeps to his domain. He doesn't even talk much about that though, haha.
Imo, there is no "secret." There is just a bunch of smart people in a room, constantly turning out and testing ideas.
They were some of the first to apply linear regression and what we know as "machine learning" to equities. Edward Thorpe is another dude to look into.
Their trading really took off after hiring some IBM engineers (accounting for their ramp up time). Those engineers were working on speech detection. I think it really is just a matter of having an insanely smart set of people, working on a problem in a room together... with the capital to back it up. IMO, Jim Simons alone couldn't do it _but_ he is/was arguably one of the best mathematicians of our time. That certainly had to have helped.
I got a bit off track, but regarding your comment here:
>has Simons every said anything interesting
What are you looking for? Do you mean in regard to rentec or just in general? I've done a lot of research on them. I could take a stab at answering them. (for reference, I operate a small algotrading shop but have always been interested in the history of algo trading)