Quantitative Trading - How to Build Your Own Algorithmic Trading Business

The book begins with a step-by-step guide to algorithmic trading, demystifying this complex subject and providing readers with a specific and usable algorithmic trading knowledge. It provides background information leading to more advanced work by outlining the current trading algorithms, the basics of their design, what they are, how they work, how they are used, their strengths, their weaknesses, where we are now and where we are going.

The book then goes on to demonstrate a selection of detailed algorithms including their implementation in the markets. Using actual algorithms that have been used in live trading readers have access to real time trading functionality and can use the never before seen algorithms to trade their own accounts.

The markets are complex adaptive systems exhibiting unpredictable behaviour. As the markets evolve algorithmic designers need to be constantly aware of any changes that may impact their work, so for the more adventurous reader there is also a section on how to design trading algorithms.

"For the serious investor, trader, or money manager, this book takes a rewarding look into modern portfolio theory. Vince introduces a leverage-space portfolio model, tweaks it for the drawdown probability, and delivers a superior model. He even provides equations to maximize returns for a chosen level of risk. So if you're serious about making money in today's markets, buy this book. Read it. Profit from it."
—Thomas N. Bulkowski, author, Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns

"This is an important book. Though traders routinely speak of their 'edge' in the marketplace and ways of handling 'risk,' few can define and measure these accurately. In this book, Ralph Vince takes readers step by step through an understanding of the mathematical foundations of trading, significantly extending his earlier work and breaking important new ground. His lucid writing style and liberal use of practical examples make this book must reading."
—Brett N. Steenbarger, PhD, author, The Psychology of Trading and Enhancing Trader Performance

"Ralph Vince is one of the world's foremost authorities on quantitative portfolio analysis. In this masterly contribution, Ralph builds on his early pioneering findings to address the real-world concerns of money managers in the trenches-how to systematically maximize gains in relation to risk."
—Nelson Freeburg, Editor, Formula Research

The most accurate, up-to-date market intelligence for superior investment decisions—from the world’s premier financial index!

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is the most watched index in America—if not the world. Whether you’re an individual investor purchasing stocks, an executive researching corporate competitors, or a job seeker looking for concise and up-to-the-minute overviews of potential employers, you’ll find the critical, often hard-to-find information you need in Standard & Poor’s® 500 Guide, 2012 Edition. Easy to use and packed with market intelligence on all 500 companies listed in the S&P 500 Index, this authoritative reference includes:

• Information on the bluest of blue chip stocks—from Abbott Labs and GE to Microsoft and Yahoo!
• Summaries of each company’s business activity, sales history, and recent developments
• Earnings and dividends data, with four-year price charts
• Exclusive Standard & Poor’s Quality Rankings (from A+ to D)
• New introduction by David M. Blitzer, Ph.D., Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee, Standard & Poor’s

In addition, you get unique at-a-glance details about:

• Stocks with A+ Quality Rankings
• Companies with five consecutive years of earnings increases—a key indicator of strong long-term performance
• Per share data, income statement analyses, and balance sheet overviews of each company covered

Put the comprehensive, updated data and analysis expertise of the world’s premier securities information firm at your fingertips with Standard & Poor’s® 500 Guide, 2012 Edition.

A proven guide to building financial models from scratch

The Second Edition of Building Financial Models with Microsoft Excel + CD-ROM provides beginning and intermediate level computer users with step-by-step instructions on building financial models using Microsoft Excel 2007-the most popular spreadsheet program available. The accompanying CD-ROM contains Excel worksheets that track the course of the book and allow you to build your own financial models. This comprehensive resource also covers important topics such as the concepts of valuation, sensitivity analysis, and contribution margin.

• Offers accessible guidance on building financial models using Excel 2007
• Illustrates how to integrate financial statements such as the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows
• Covers the basics of building and using a Capitalization Table
• Discusses how to best present a financial model

The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation offers you the background and analytical tools required to take full advantage of the opportunities found in asset allocation, sector rotation, ETFs, and the business cycle.

Written by renowned technical analyst and best-selling author Martin Pring, the book presents Mr. Pring's unique Six Business Cycle Stages, explaining why certain asset categories perform better or worse during different phases of the business cycle, and demonstrating how to use intermarket tools and technical analysis to recognize what business cycle stage the market is in.

Pring shows you how to apply active asset allocation, rotating among sectors and major markets (stocks, bonds, and futures) as the business cycle stage changes, to develop optimum allocation strategies. He focuses on exchange traded funds (ETFs) as the best vehicle for asset allocation rotation, since they are easily traded and have much more flexibility than mutual funds. He also offers specific guidelines for what sectors to be in, depending on the business cycle stage.

The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation provides you with proven investing expertise on: