Nerds on Wall Street Math, Machines and Wired Markets

by Leinweber, David J.; Aronson, Theodore R.

• ISBN13: 9780471369462
• ISBN10: 0471369462
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-06-09
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

An intriguing look at how technology is changing financial markets, from an innovator on the frontlines of this revolution Nerds on Wall Street tells the tale of the ongoing technological transformation of the world's financial markets. The impact of technology on investing is profound, and author David Leinweber provides readers with an overview of where we were just a few short years ago, and where we are going. Being a successful investor today and tomorrow--individual or institutional--involves more than stock picking, asset allocation, or market timing: it involves technology. And Leinweber helps readers go beyond the numbers to see exactly how this technology has become more responsible for managing modern markets. In essence, the financial game has changed and will continue to change due entirely to technology. The new "players," human or otherwise, offer investors opportunities and dangers. With this intriguing and entertaining book, Leinweber shows where technology on Wall Street has been, what it has meant, and how it will impact the markets of tomorrow. David Leinweber, PhD (Pasadena, CA), is Haas Fellow in Finance at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, and founder of the Center for Innovative Financial Technology at Haas. He is the founder of two pioneering financial technology firms and has consulted, published, and lectured widely on the use of advanced technology, artificial intelligence, and intelligence amplification in finance.

Author Biography

David Leinweber is a Haas Fellow in Finance at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, and founding Director of the Center for Innovative Financial Technology at Berkeley. He is the founder of two pioneering financial technology firms and successfully managed multibillion-dollar institutional portfolios for many years. Dr. Leinweber has consulted, published, and lectured widely on the use of advanced technology, artificial intelligence, and intelligence amplification in finance-always in an easy and accessible way-and has earned the reputation as "class clown of the quantitative investing industry." He received BS degrees in physics and electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a PhD in applied mathematics from Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xv
Wired Markets	p. 1
An Illustrated History of Wired Markets	p. 5
Greatest Hits of Computation in Finance	p. 31
Algorithm Wars	p. 65
Alpha as Life	p. 89
Where Does Alpha Come From?	p. 95
Alpha from Innovation; Alpha, the ARPANET, and the Internet; Summary
A Gentle Introduction to Computerized Investing	p. 109
Stupid Data Miner Tricks	p. 135
"Your Mama Is a Data Miner"; Strip Mining the S&P 500; Enough Regression Tricks; Is There Any Hope for Data Miners?; Summary (and Sermonette); Counting the Kiddies
Artificial Intelligence and Intelligence Amplification	p. 149
A Little AI Goes a Long Way on Wall Street	p. 159
Perils and Promise of Evolutionary Computation on Wall Street	p. 181
The Text Frontier: AI, IA, and the New Research	p. 203
Ten Pounds of News in a Five-Pound Bag; Pre-News and Disintermediation; More Pre-News on the Internet
Collective Intelligence, Social Media, and Web Market Monitors	p. 227
Three Hundred Years of Stock Market Manipulations: From the Coffeehouse to the World Wide Web	p. 253
Nerds Gone Wild: Wired Markets in Distress	p. 273
Shooting the Moon: Stupid Financial Technology Tricks	p. 279
To Protect and to Serve; Stupid Engineering Tricks; Stupid Financial Engineering Tricks; Take Them Out and Shoot Them; Tech Hall of Shame; Quants Who Saw It Coming
Structural Ideas for the Economic Rescue: Fractional Homes and New Banks	p. 305
Fractional Home Ownership; New American Bank Initiative; Still Mad, but Ever Hopeful
Nerds Gone Green: Nerds on Wall Street, off Wall Street	p. 327
Accelerating Innovation; From the Vault; Billions of Dollars and Millions of Tons of Carbon; Epilogue; Web Site
Index	p. 343
About the Web Site	p. 353
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.