What’s the most important thing we need to have in order to follow financial markets? Burgers… ok, I made that up, the real answer is market data! Whilst there are many other datasets including those drawn from alternative data, which are becoming increasingly important, having a handle on the asset prices is still key. When…
Category: TCA
Data, Foreign Exchange, General, TCA
TCA to improve your investing
by Saeed Amen •
Chips are supposed to go with burgers, or with fish. However, there are times when chips by themselves are exactly what you need and also as a side for many other dishes. Probably my favourite chips are from Vlaams Friteshuis Vleminckx. It doesn’t look like much, a tiny takeaway nestled in the streets of central…
Data, Foreign Exchange, General, Python, TCA
Using Python to explore FX market microstructure
by Saeed Amen •
I am sure like most readers, I’ve lost count of the number of weeks since things were “normal”. When will things get back normal? Maybe weeks or more likely months? I suppose that using a Python function random.random(), might be the best approach here! However, in the meantime, I’ve been trying to work hard at…
Data, Foreign Exchange, Python, TCA
How to do TCA with tcapy in Python
by Saeed Amen •
Over the past few years, I’ve been working on tcapy, a transaction cost analysis library in Python, which I’ve recently open sourced. As a result I’ve been thinking about TCA for a long time. Why is it important to do transaction cost analysis on your trades? Ultimately doing TCA can save you money on your…
Data, General, Python, TCA
Speeding up tick data calculations in Python
by Saeed Amen •
Time, time, time. At the current moment, we likely have a bit more time than usual. Despite this, it’s unlikely any of us actively want to wait longer for code to execute! Last week, I wrote about libraries for working with large datasets, like Dask and Vaex, or using databases like kdb+/q. This week, I’ll…
Data, General, TCA
Learning to code in q
by Saeed Amen •
The world has changed. I’m sure that phrase has been uttered many times before, usually when the world really hasn’t changed. What “back to normal” will look like, no one really knows. At this stage, most of us are under a state of lockdown and has given us to time to think. Although, it should…
General, Python, TCA
Paying the yeast amount for TCA
by Saeed Amen •
Whether the coronavirus pandemic is a Black Swan or a White Swan event, has provoked a lot of discussion over recent weeks. Nassim Taleb noted that it was a White Swan event (see his recent Bloomberg interview), because we had some warning that it could spread, earlier in the year after it had appeared in…
Data, Foreign Exchange, General, Python, TCA
How to speed up Python and TCA
by Saeed Amen •
Somewhat abusing a quotation by Dickens, coding is the best of times and also the worst of times. The worst of times are those hours spent debugging, what appears to be some innocuous code, that throws an exception for some totally inexplicable reason. When you find the problem it is usually something which was incredibly…
Data, Foreign Exchange, General, Python, TCA
Cuemacro’s TCA software is now open sourced
by Saeed Amen •
It’s a difficult time at present around the world. You obviously don’t need me to tell you that. Let’s hope that we can conquer the coronavirus soon and we all give thanks for those on the front lines, working in hospitals caring for the sick, those working in supermarkets and all those keeping society going…
Foreign Exchange, General, TCA
Get FX TCA for a one off transparent cost
by Saeed Amen •
Nostalgia. Ah yes, things were always better before. Well, sometimes, but perhaps not always. The key thing which was different in the past, is of course us: we were younger. Perhaps a yearning for past isn’t so much for a world that existed before, but for our younger selves? When it comes to markets,…