Actually the thread wasn't a joke, but some of the posters thought it was. I was bascially trying to find out if large Hedge Funds run their algorithms on these type of computers? The Cray Supercomputer is used to model and predict global climates and weather patterns into the future, why couldn't it be used to predict stock prices or market action into the future? The Cray could look back through countless amounts of historical data and determine a "what if" scenario. They say that history repeats itself. I know that these computers are very expensive, but then again some of these large Hedge funds could easily buy one to run all their many diffferent algorithms. Does anyone else see any use for the Cray other than crunching numbers?
Most - but not all - finance problems can be run on parallel computing clusters at lower cost than on a cray - hence the reason crays are far less popular today than 20 years ago. Some problems still require its processor architecture and for those they are still invaluable.
most hedge funds buy dell - like everyone else. personally, i used to have access to a cray. it was great for surfing porn on the internet - it could find the biggest tits in no time at all. other than that, i really couldnt see the point. who cares what the weather is when theres porn
"If you were plowing a field, which would you rather use? Two strong oxen or 1024 chickens?" - Seymour Cray (1925-1996)
Vague recollections of conversations/texts from years gone by (when I was a grad student), and of course Google!