The Future of AI Innovation in Equity Trading and Investing
Last Friday, our CEO, Paul White, joined Renee Yao, CIO and Founder of Ivy Capital, at Cornell’s Duffield Engineering campus for a Rebellion Research Fund Managers fireside chat. The conversation focused on one of the most important questions facing the investment industry today: What is the future of AI innovation for equity trading and investing?
During the discussion, Paul shared his perspective on how AI is changing the way equity traders and investors approach research and generate alpha. Historically, the formula was relatively straightforward: Data + People + Compute = P&L. Today, that equation is evolving to Data + Intelligence + Compute = P&L. This shift does not mean that people are becoming less important. Instead, AI is becoming a tool that complements human expertise, allowing teams to work with larger amounts of information, accelerate research, and unlock opportunities for nonlinear growth.
Data has always been critical to quantitative investing, but with AI, the need for high-quality, clean, and well-curated data is even greater. Data must also be well-documented so that it can be effectively used by both people and AI agents. AI can help streamline the process of preparing and evaluating data; for example, what once took more than a month to onboard and evaluate a new data trial can now take as little as 24 hours. With comprehensive documentation and automatically generated features, AI can further accelerate the research process.
The next step is turning that data into intelligence and ideas. Historically, researchers would read papers and textbooks, network, and explore new concepts to develop research ideas. Today, that process is increasingly becoming People + AI → Ideas, with people guiding AI agents to explore information and connect it to broader investment objectives. Our Idea 2 Alpha project is one example: analyzing a new research paper, which would previously be measured in months, can now take around five hours. This shift also changes the skills needed to work effectively with AI. Technical skills such as coding and modeling remain important, but understanding business objectives and knowing how to reliably leverage AI are becoming increasingly more valuable.
Of course, scaling these capabilities also requires managing the cost of compute. As AI enables teams to conduct more research, controlling cloud and token costs becomes increasingly important. We have been working with vendors to develop tools that provide real-time budgeting limits and spending controls, while also capturing data that can be used to analyze spending and ROI. The goal is not simply to use more AI, but to use it efficiently and strategically.
Ultimately, AI is changing how quantitative teams work, but people remain at the center of the process. By combining data, intelligence, and compute, teams can accelerate the path from information to ideas and create new opportunities in equity trading and investing.
Welcoming Our Summer 2026 Interns!
Quantbot has had an action-packed summer, full of exciting events, speaker panels, workshops, and team-bonding activities! We welcomed 20 interns globally into our summer programs in New York, London, Hong Kong, and Miami.
Our largest intern class in New York have explored the city over the past few months, taking part in a variety of events, from enjoying rooftop drinks and views to embarking on a boat cruise around the Hudson and East River. The team also had an impactful evening volunteering at the Bowery Mission Soup Kitchen, serving and distributing meals to shelter residents.
To help our interns strengthen their presentation skills, Bill Coda from Wall Street Prep held a training session in the office, teaching everyone how to communicate their ideas clearly and confidently when presenting. In addition, interns had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with former interns who have made the journey from summer interns to full-time team members during our panel info session with Shrinath, Cindy, and Ludo.
Our global offices in London and Hong Kong have also held multiple team-bonding outings, including F1 racing, cocktail making, and pub quizzes! We value the input and work done by our interns so highly as Quantbot continues to grow and evolve.
Quantbot Holiday Parties Across the Globe!
From New York to Hong Kong, our Quantbot offices got into the holiday spirit this past December with festive gatherings in each city, celebrating with lots of good food and even greater company.
In NYC, the evening began with Secret Santa in the office, surrounding the beautiful Christmas tree. After exchanging gifts, the group headed out to Five Iron Golf for tons of games, including soccer and golf simulators, pool, and shuffleboard!
Our other global offices also had their own special get-togethers, with the London office having a gift exchange before enjoying a delicious Christmas dinner at Coal Shed, joined by the UK CodeWilling team. The Hong Kong office celebrated at The Magistracy Dining Room for a formal evening of food, drinks, and fun!
2025 was full of wonderful outings, dinners, and team bonding activities, and we are looking forward to more fun ahead in 2026!
Beyond Backtest Masterclass at Quant Strats Europe 2025!
On October 15th, Paul and Tom took part in this year’s Quant Strats event in London, reflecting on how far quant development has come during their presentation called “Beyond Backtest – Stress-Testing Quant Strategies for Regime Shifts and Fragility.” The two hour masterclass explained how Quantbot explores a wide range of datasets and applies machine learning to uncover alpha, demonstrating our ability to build strategies that survive and thrive in any market.
Their engaging session discussed stress-testing for regime shifts and outlined the tools and framework used to test, refine, and scale multi-million dollar strategies. They also had the opportunity to demo a new Generative AI tool on datasets from Code Willing.
A huge congratulations goes out to Paul, who was selected as a finalist for the Quant Strats Hot 10, highlighting the most influential quant leaders. We are already looking forward to next year’s conference!
Diwali in Office Celebration!
This week, we had the opportunity to celebrate Diwali in the office! The festival symbolizes joy, prosperity, and the victory of light over darkness. We enjoyed chai and bites catered by Chote Miya / Bombay House Hospitality. We hope to host many more events highlighting different cultures in the future and we wish everyone a bright and joyful Diwali!
