Alphathon 2024: A Quantitative Finance Competition

The Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT) partnered with the Society of Quantitative Analysts (SQA) to organize Alphathon 2024, an online Quantitative Finance (QF) competition held from September 9 to September 30, 2024. The competition attracted 77 teams and 148 participants, with winners announced on October 4, 2024, at the SQA Conference in New York City during DataWeekNYC 2024.

Competition Challenges

Participants worked on four challenges, each sponsored by industry leaders:

• Real-Time Streaming Applications (Sponsor: Point72/Cubist)
• Using Large Language Models (LLMs) in Investment (Sponsor: AllianceBernstein)
• Fund Flows, Crowding, and Subsequent Returns (Sponsor: Principal)
• A Long-Short Portfolio Strategy Reflecting Stock Selection Skill (Sponsor: Optimal Portfolio Strategies)

These challenges focused on real-time data processing, machine learning models for investment, fund flow analysis, and portfolio construction strategies. Submissions were evaluated by a panel of industry experts.

Final Presentations and Panel Discussion

The winning teams presented their solutions at the SQA Conference in New York City on October 9, 2024. Their presentations covered applications of AI, machine learning, and alternative datasets in finance. After the presentations, SQA and CEWIT hosted a panel discussion, "The State of the Quant Industry." The discussion covered industry trends, key takeaways from the competition, and developments in finance and AI.

Speakers included

• Gene Ekster, Data Specialist, Maiden Century; Adjunct Professor, NYU Courant
• Christos Koutsoyannis, CEO, Atlas Ridge Capital; Adjunct Professor, NYU Courant; Executive Advisory Board, Columbia Business School, Program for Financial Studies
• Pawel Polak, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University
• Christina Qi, CEO, Databento; Board of Trustees, MIT
• Ingrid Tierens, Head of Data Strategy for Global Investment Research, Goldman Sachs
• Rong Zhao, Director, CEWIT, Stony Brook University

Industry Engagement and Future Directions

Alphathon 2024 brought together students and professionals from different regions, giving them hands-on experience with financial datasets provided by event sponsors. The competition was also part of DataWeekNYC 2024, increasing industry engagement and visibility.

CEWIT’s collaboration with SQA on Alphathon is part of a broader effort to expand its focus on FinTech and quantitative finance as key areas for future research and industry partnerships.

Alphathon 2024 Winning Teams

Question 1: A Real-Time Streaming Application Using CSP, by Point72 / Cubist Systematic Strategies

Team 29: Zhishu Zhang and Zilin Chen

Question 2: Using Large Language Models (LLMs) in Investment, by AllianceBernstein (AB)

Team 34 "Big Red Big Purple": Elina (Fuwei) Zhuang, Shun Wang, Hudson Chen, Yuao Peng, Yuanzhi Ma and Wanqing (Tyler) Li

Question 3: Fund Flows, Crowding and Subsequent Returns, by Principal Financial Group

Team 54: Lars Warren Ericson

Question 4: A Long-Short Portfolio Strategy that Accurately Reflects Stock Selection Skill, by Optimal Portfolio Strategies!

Team 76 "Alphasycratics": Douglas Ricardo Sansão

Question 1 Winners

Question 2 Winners

Question 3 Winners

Question 4 Winners

Links 

Alphathon 2024:   https://tinyurl.com/Alphathon2024

Society of Quantitative Analysts (SQA):   https://www.sqa-us.org

The Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT):  www.cewit.org