Quants don't pose a threat but machine learning definitely does. ML can do whatever humans can do but better when it comes to pattern recognition. Neither discretionary traders nor automated system traders like myself have a chance against this, we are dinosaurs.
Quants ARE traders..even Simons describes himself as a trader.. a natural question arises : do trendline traders pose a thread to breakout traders?? do 5 minute candle traders pose a threat to hourly candles traders,etc,etc.. generally ,traders pose a threat to traders..
In large firms quants develop models which is a full-time job by itself. They don't do execution. For example running inter-system correlation is completely disconnected from knowing which exchange to execute an order on at a particular time of day with which order type.
Are you aware of developments of ai or ml in trading systems currently or for the forseeable future ? The way I think about it, it's taking a ton of work just to get an ai to drive a car. They're probably already better. But I feel like there are so much more nuances that a trader needs to have that only comes from experience. How would an ai know to even look for certain connections?
ML would test most/all possible connections. Humans give it the data; and the ML crunches the data. The more data; the more powerful the computing platform; the better.
I've found that longer holding time frames helps. If you're a legitimate swing trader or position trader the turbulence caused by the algos and bots is largely minimized. A scalper holding a mouse in his hand is dead meat on the table, IMO.
I have the feeling that you are a jetsetter with connections to famous and/or wealthy traders/authors, am I right?
That can be said. It was the direct result of the schools I attended, and also living in NYC for almost 20 years. There has definitely been some special encounters/events. For example, while reading the book about Jim Simons, I noticed the name of Robert Mercer who was the CEO of Renaissance Technologies. His daughter's name is Heather Sue, and we took economics classes at Duke University, and even did homework together, while grabbing dinner. That whole time in school, I had zero idea her father was Jim Simons right hand man. Julian Robertson's son, Spencer, also went to school with me, and I know him. Met his father at the Museum of Natural History, back in the day. Unfortunately, he was winding down his flagship fund, Tiger, and was not too happy. I can go on for a couple of hours, as it really gets super surreal...
So you met the daughter of Robert Mercer (a billionaire) and Julian Robertson's son (also a billionaire), while in school, and both these men are well-known traders and fund managers. No doubt, you are well-connected! Did they share any trading secrets, by the way? Just kidding. Have a good weekend.