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Renaissance Technologies

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Re: Renaissance Technologies

#121

Post by Inconel »

smabie wrote: post #116
pmoriarty wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My own suspicion is that they have access to some raw information that others don't have. An example of such information would be information gathered from insiders at other corporations or industrial espionage. It's more likely, in my view, that they've created a world-class industrial espionage outfit than that they've "solved the market" for decades where virtually everyone else has failed. On the other hand, if t…

I guess all the math and science PhDs they hire are actually undercover spies that finished their dissertations in order to provide a good cover?

Without getting into the validity of the gp’s post, RenTec does seem to recruit from NSA/CCR, particularly in the early days. Again, not saying this lends credence to the gp’s post, just adding an interesting bit of info.

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#122

Post by patagurbon »

throw_this_one wrote: post #78
nodesocket wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you've been drinking too much of the Warren coolaid. If you are American, vilifying wealth and building companies is quite a silly endeavour. This blame game mentality is counterproductive and will only restrict and impede your own financial success.

I mean what is the end effect of this though? Basically some smart people get very rich. Due to zero-sum game, other people lose. No benefit is derived in the real economy. The only possible benefit is increased liquidity... which really isn't that beneficial past a point right? I don't see the benefit. If you have a different angle I'd be glad to hear it.

I generally agree that there are some really bad effects of funds like this. But wealth is not zero-sum.

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#123

Post by javiermares »

smabie wrote: post #18

A great book about RenTec and Jim Simons came out recently: The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution. Everyone in the industry worships Simons and RenTec as practically god-like. What they've managed to do shouldn't really be possible and is out of this world. According to Wikipedia over a 20 year period between 1994 and 2014, RenTec realized an 71.9% annualized return in their inte…

Hold on, it's not comparable to the ~10$ CAGR of the SP500 is it? RenTec's fund is capped so it's an average return of 71.9% but not an annualized return, since the returns are not compounded. Correct?

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#125

Post by patentatt »

smabie wrote: post #116
pmoriarty wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My own suspicion is that they have access to some raw information that others don't have. An example of such information would be information gathered from insiders at other corporations or industrial espionage. It's more likely, in my view, that they've created a world-class industrial espionage outfit than that they've "solved the market" for decades where virtually everyone else has failed. On the other hand, if t…

I guess all the math and science PhDs they hire are actually undercover spies that finished their dissertations in order to provide a good cover?

Do you think there aren’t other highly educated smart people working anywhere else in the financial industry? They’re success can’t be explained by just hiring smart people.

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#126

Post by patentatt »

Inconel wrote: post #121
smabie wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess all the math and science PhDs they hire are actually undercover spies that finished their dissertations in order to provide a good cover?

Without getting into the validity of the gp’s post, RenTec does seem to recruit from NSA/CCR, particularly in the early days. Again, not saying this lends credence to the gp’s post, just adding an interesting bit of info.

A perfectly innocuous connection could be that intelligence community folks are good at ... drawing conclusions from intelligence? It makes sense to recruit spooks to analyze and interpret mounds of proprietary but legally-gathered intelligence then.

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#127

Post by [deleted] »

throwawaymath wrote: post #112
analogkid wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I should add that Renaissance Technologies is hiring! https://www.rentec.com/Careers.action My group is looking for very strong Java/Kotlin developers.

I know this is not likely, but you should consider setting up an anonymous email in your HN profile to at least receive questions about the company as an employee. Not to answer anything proprietary or to give anything away under NDA, but so that people can speak candidly with someone not in HR without having to rely on HN comments. Denise is great, but I wouldn't say she's the best source to answer harmless but very…

[deleted]

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#128

Post by auntienomen »

gibybo wrote: post #99
auntienomen wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think the $ figures are? Have you tried to see whether the numbers add up for your theory?

Well reports are that the Medallion Fund is capped at $10B with a 66% annual return before fees and a 39% annual return after fees, so the other funds would need to underperform by an average of at least $3.9B per year. If we include the fees in the performance (it's not clear to me that we should, since it's just an accounting measure that RenTec claims to pay itself) then it's at least $6.6B. Wikipedia says RenTec…

The other funds have not had $110B in AUM for most of the time period in question. Probably less than half that. RIEF shrunk to ~$7B at one point, during the post 2009 period.

Next step is to look up RIEF, RIFF, & RIDA's dollar returns to see if you can match the figures.

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#129

Post by soVeryTired »

smabie wrote: post #18

A great book about RenTec and Jim Simons came out recently: The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution. Everyone in the industry worships Simons and RenTec as practically god-like. What they've managed to do shouldn't really be possible and is out of this world. According to Wikipedia over a 20 year period between 1994 and 2014, RenTec realized an 71.9% annualized return in their inte…

Sounds like you've assumed that rentech are running the same volatility as the S&P 500. That's very unlikely to be true - most systematic hedge funds ran crazy high risk in the '80s and '90s. But even if you assume it's a coin toss as to whether they perform well in any given year, twenty good years in a row is impressive.

My best guess is that it's a combination of luck, skill, and hindsight bias. Rentech probably had (has?) an edge. They were also partly lucky: in investment, you can do everything right and still lose money. There were also many other players: had LTCM not blown themselves up, we might be marvelling at their investment prowess now.

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#130

Post by deepnotderp »

Inconel wrote: post #121
smabie wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess all the math and science PhDs they hire are actually undercover spies that finished their dissertations in order to provide a good cover?

Without getting into the validity of the gp’s post, RenTec does seem to recruit from NSA/CCR, particularly in the early days. Again, not saying this lends credence to the gp’s post, just adding an interesting bit of info.

RenTech recruited from NSA early on mostly due to Jim Simons' connections there. The recruiting they do nowadays is mostly because there are some excellent mathematicians, statisticians, information theorists, etc. there.
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