SI372: QIS Unboxed: Rules, Wrappers, and Reality ft. Nick Baltas

45 snips

Nov 1, 2025

Nick Baltas, a quantitative product specialist at Goldman Sachs, shares insights on the $1.3 trillion QIS industry. He discusses how trading speed affects strategy results and the importance of understanding market resilience versus fragility. Nick highlights the dominance of equities in QIS allocations and the diverse client base from pensions to hedge funds. The conversation also touches on the challenges of designing QIS products for scale and the complexities of index wrappers, revealing the nuanced dynamics that drive this fascinating sector.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Fragility Versus Resilience

Markets this year oscillate between fragility and resilience, creating a persistent debate about sustainability.
Nick Baltas finds that this pendulum is the defining memory as markets approach year-end.

ANECDOTE

October Commodity Reversal

Moritz describes a strong October driven by long positions in metals and livestock that later gave back profits.
Nick confirms commodities led returns early in the month but then largely reversed.

INSIGHT

Trading Speed Drives Dispersion

Speed of re-entry after V-shaped moves created dispersion across trend followers this year.
Faster systems captured the V-shape but missed later moves, while slower systems rode the full cycle.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app