Today, we are joined by Nigol Koulajian and Mike Harris from Quest Partners, for a conversation on how they use a research driven, quantitative and systematic trading approach to generate alpha. We discuss how they generate convexity and why they have chosen to focus on short-term time frames, why they believe some investors have become too focused on Sharpe and how they use trend following and crowding in their process. We also discuss how they use an adaptive learning technique to understand markets whilst being aware of the dangers of machine learning, the power and importance of data and the potential risks of replicating managers, why liquidity is dynamic and very unpredictable and much more.
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Episode Timestamps:
02:08 - Introduction to Quest Partners	
03:34 - Their investment philosophy	
07:35 - A structural change in markets	
15:04 - Too focused on Sharpe?	
20:55 - Creating momentum	
24:18 - A move toward multi-strat?	
37:35 - Managing the crowd	
39:13 - The persistency of market environments	
41:45 - A type of machine learning?	
44:12 - The source of opportunities	
48:34 - The "D" word	
53:30 - Thoughts on CTA replication	
01:00:12 - Being a short term manager	
01:02:30 - Liquidity issues and changes in markets	
01:09:15 - Trend following disagreements	
01:12:46 - Expectations for 2023	
01:14:15 - Thanks for listening
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