Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Renaissance Technologies

en.wikipedia.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 261 posts

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#251

Post by smabie »

robotresearcher wrote: post #229
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…

> We get a P The probability of my particular shuffled card deck is around 1E-68: vanishingly less likely. Therefore I think we can all agree we can reject the null hypothesis that my card deck was obtained at random. /s Highly unlikely things happen all the time. Their occurrence should not be ascribed to alpha due to occurrence. The probability of occurrence due to occurrence is of course 1.

Well if you prrdicated such a permutation, that would indeed reject the null hypothesis. If 1.64E-24 doesn’t convince you, how do you manage to believe in anything at all? Thr world view you are positing is essentially solipsistic: there’s nothing that exists or is true except your own existence. Hopefully we all can agree that at best, such a view results in paralysis, at worst, absolute destruction.

Moreover, I don’t think you or anyone else actually applies your logic in your own life. If you did, you would be dead because of your disbelief in reality. For example, you migh conclude that eating is unnecessary, because the people who starved to death were just unlucky and that in fact, there’s been no “proof” that people need food at all. Or even proof that people exist at all!

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#252

Post by smabie »

bumby wrote: post #200
soVeryTired wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 h…

I'd be curious what their risk-adjusted returns are, especially in a leverage free environment. Anybody know where to find such information for RenTec (or other hedge/mutual funds for that matter)?

According to the book, they were running a SR of 2 through the 90s and early 2000s. After overhauling their strategies, they started running a SR of around 7! I’m not sure where you can get information about other funds besides finding articles in BB or WSJ, but the HFRI Index publishes return information for different classes of funds. Regardless, I don’t think you’re going to be able to access SR unless you’re an investor or work at a portfolio analytics company.

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#253

Post by tcgv »

naringas wrote: post #143

Do they produce/create anything? or do they simply trade finacial assets in a way such that they accumulate profit? and by "simply trade" I really mean "trade in an incredibly sophisticated and clever way"

In an interview I watched on youtube Jim Simons says their trades provide liquidity and efficiency to financial markets, as to say they are effectively contributing to the economy, and not just earning money.

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#254

Post by solveit »

logjammin wrote: post #248
solveit wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically this. I'll slightly elaborate on why an efficient market is a good thing. It means that anyone can change money into a different currency without having to worry about being ripped off. There is one exchange rate and you'll be paying that plus a small margin. It means that anyone can invest in publicly traded companies without having to spend an inordinate amount of time and effort trying to value them. Pen…

This is a really good case for quantitative finance, and it's also really clear, so thanks for both. Consider my perspective changed for the better. There's still a bit of dissonance in this for me, but it's abstract and strays a bit what you're saying, so don't feel a need to respond: I think, for example, about the friends and acquaintances I have in finance who I've often heard lament about the lack of meaning, ut…

I feel both of your questions and have no answer for either :(

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#255

Post by tomp »

hogFeast wrote: post #250
tomp wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, interesting and insightful comment. Regarding analyst/graduate rotations, what do you think is the actual value there? To me it seems just a way for the team to lose a potentially decent employee just as they’re done training him/her. If the idea is to familiarize juniors with the firm, what it does and how it works, wouldn’t a shorter program with direct lessons work better (e.g. what some investment banks d…

The value is that they hire a ton of people with a very low bar. The smartest go into investment research, the next lot go into sales, the next into marketing, the rest into admin. The effect, I believe, is two-fold: one, these guys are cheap. And two, you don't have to rely on someone's education, you can see if they actually can function in the workplace. But this places a huge burden on actually being able to trai…

Interesting.. yeah you're right, AFAIK better banks (Goldman, BAML) hire for specific roles even for non-IB teams... All in all, I often wonder if/how it's possible to improve on both of these approaches, how to figure out both if someone is actually intelligent (as opposed to just booksmart, or got the interview questions from the recruiter) and whatever else is needed to perform (drive, common sense, not IYI, ... I'm probably not experienced enough even to know, let alone to judge...), particularly for computer developers or generally researcher types.

Btw, I'd love to meet and chat about this. If you're in London, feel free to email me tom.primozic at gmail

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#256

Post by [deleted] »

smabie wrote: post #251
robotresearcher wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We get a P The probability of my particular shuffled card deck is around 1E-68: vanishingly less likely. Therefore I think we can all agree we can reject the null hypothesis that my card deck was obtained at random. /s Highly unlikely things happen all the time. Their occurrence should not be ascribed to alpha due to occurrence. The probability of occurrence due to occurrence is of course 1.

Well if you prrdicated such a permutation, that would indeed reject the null hypothesis. If 1.64E-24 doesn’t convince you, how do you manage to believe in anything at all? Thr world view you are positing is essentially solipsistic: there’s nothing that exists or is true except your own existence. Hopefully we all can agree that at best, such a view results in paralysis, at worst, absolute destruction. Moreover, I don…

[deleted]

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#257

Post by [deleted] »

smabie wrote: post #251
robotresearcher wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We get a P The probability of my particular shuffled card deck is around 1E-68: vanishingly less likely. Therefore I think we can all agree we can reject the null hypothesis that my card deck was obtained at random. /s Highly unlikely things happen all the time. Their occurrence should not be ascribed to alpha due to occurrence. The probability of occurrence due to occurrence is of course 1.

Well if you prrdicated such a permutation, that would indeed reject the null hypothesis. If 1.64E-24 doesn’t convince you, how do you manage to believe in anything at all? Thr world view you are positing is essentially solipsistic: there’s nothing that exists or is true except your own existence. Hopefully we all can agree that at best, such a view results in paralysis, at worst, absolute destruction. Moreover, I don…

[deleted]

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#258

Post by mindentropy »

analogkid wrote: post #103
analogkid wrote: post #98

The tone of many comments here is disappointing. I'm really surprised at the number of people suggesting illegal activity. Why is it so hard to accept that someone did the math?

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

Do you consider candidates from outside the US?

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#259

Post by ironyman »

Inconel wrote: post #110
throwawaymath wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I meant Newport. The Thorpe folks and such.

Just out of curiosity, are there any successful Princeton/Newport/Thorpe offshoots aside from the usual one in Irvine?

Just the one in Irvine I think. Apparently they kept most of their staff from P/NP.

Re: Renaissance Technologies

#260

Post by linksnapzz »

ycombinete wrote: post #223
sbu_throwaway wrote: post #66

Here's some inside baseball: I recently graduated from Stony Brook University where Jim Simons chaired the math department in the 1960s. He left to start Renaissance Technologies which is located 1 mile down the street from campus. Their influence is everywhere. We have a Simons Center for Geometry and Physics ($150m building). I take classes in Frey Hall (Robert Frey used be managing director at Rentec). Our med sch…

Smoking indoors doesn’t seem like the marker of a humble person to me at all. It seems inconsiderate and arrogant

...or, an addict.
Post reply on HN