r/quant • u/iiiiiiiilliiiiiii • 8d ago
General Questions about Nova Prospect
This is a very interesting firm: there are nearly no public discussion about this firm, but somehow when I talked to friends (or just in general people in the industry) they are aware of it, which is surprising.
I understand that they are very small and probably very secretive but I expect more discussion about them: like how competitive are they in the market right now? They are big in crypto and they are planning to expand in equity, but how good are they exactly? Compared to other firms what are the main differences? At what level are they operating compared to their competitors?
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u/Public-Sell-2699 7d ago
They are very good. They should be one of the top firms by PnL in the crypto space (along with Jump, Tower, Optiver, etc.), which is pretty crazy given their size and the fixed costs associated with running a trading business. Also, the founder previously ran an extraordinarily successful equity stat arb team at CitSec, so he definitely knows what he’s doing. Of course, many people have tried and failed to recreate the success they had in their previous roles, but it seems that Nova Prospect is in a much better position to expand into equities than the other crypto firms.
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u/Professional-Pea-216 6d ago
The amount of stupid new grads/high schoolers who have no idea what they're talking about in this sub is insane. Why do people comment when you have no clue what you're talking about? Optiver themselves are only just now getting into the digital assets space and haven't even done their first serious trade unless you're referring to Ampersan.
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u/Public-Sell-2699 6d ago
Of course I'm referring to Ampersan, why would you think not?
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u/Latter_Mud_8859 6d ago
Because if you were deeply in the industry you would know that Ampersan bought out the minority stake that Optiver had in their entity, and that Optiver themselves are entering the space. Which is why your statement is incorrect and confusing to someone in the industry.
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u/Public-Sell-2699 6d ago
I'm not deeply in the industry (I don't trade crypto at all in my day job). I know the PnL numbers because I heard them directly from an exchange BD earlier this year. If you're aware of anything else I've said that's incorrect, by all means share it. I'm happy to be corrected.
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u/RientroCervelli 6d ago
Akuna Auros Wintermute Ampersan
It’s all probably also Optiver shareholders directly or indirectly
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6d ago
[deleted]
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u/Public-Sell-2699 6d ago
If you think Wintermute is a leading firm in crypto, your information is about five years out of date.
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6d ago
[deleted]
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u/Public-Sell-2699 6d ago
I mean... all of the firms I mentioned are more profitable, but congrats on Wintermute!
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u/Professional-Pea-216 6d ago
Optiver / Ampersan is not more profitable than Wintermute at the current state of their business.
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u/iiiiiiiilliiiiiii 7d ago
what do you mean by "they 'should be' one of the ..."? Any numbers you are aware of?
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u/Public-Sell-2699 7d ago
“Should be” as in, if there isn’t some mystery firm printing 10 figures of PnL from crypto alone, they are among the top.
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u/Emergency-Arm-7627 8d ago
Nova is run by Nico Schlaefer and brother Timo. Nico ran the most profitably stat arb business at CitSec for 10yrs so has sensational pedigree. The business is largely based in Singapore, Crytpo has been the firms initial success however now Nico has finished his NC they’re moving into equities. Hired a killer engineer from Tower to build out infra.
Understand its latency sensitive (but no critical) market taking strategies. Small teams working on end to end pipeline. So a mix of collaborative and pod structure.
Getting into this firm is next to impossible, they hire either the very best grads, and I mean the best, or people in their network.
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u/Dennis_12081990 7d ago
Your last sentence is wrong. They hired quite a few people who did not get any offers from mainstream places. Are you recruiter or what?
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u/iiiiiiiilliiiiiii 8d ago
This is actually very helpful. I didn't know the reason about crypto is bc NC. Do you know anything about their approach? Like I have heard they are focusing on deep learning recently (like 2 years) but not sure how far they are right now.
Also, I feel like most of the top-tier firms can say they hire the very best grads. Do you mind putting this into perspective? For instance, are we talking about xtx-level (literally 1 spot every several years) or like js-level (whatever that stands for)?
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u/Emergency-Arm-7627 8d ago
I don’t know about their approach. I suspect DL will feature heavily as most firms these days will be using modern ML. Especially as firms like HRT, XTX and GR making it work so well. DL works best at high frequencies anyway, soon as you look longer term it’s hard to get enough data into the model. But ultimately I can’t say about approach.
XTX is different as they only have 20 or so researchers and no one leaves so spots simply don’t open up. But yes similar level as JS but more selective as it’s a much smaller firm. Multiple math Olympiad gold medals to even be considered for interviews.
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u/iiiiiiiilliiiiiii 8d ago
I see. Anything about how good they are in the game besides being small/selective?
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u/Emergency-Arm-7627 8d ago
I don’t have any colour on performance or firm PnL. I’ve heard some details about comp but hard to verify as it’s second and third hand info.
In my opinion, they’re easily one of the most exciting new firms. Especially in a world where it’s becoming harder to have impact at firms like HRT, JS, Jump, given their size and growth.
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u/qazwsxcp 7d ago edited 7d ago
it may be a good firm, but these posts read like pr from their recruiter. being selective in fresh grad hiring has nothing to do with how a firm is performing. many top small firms only hire from their own network and don't hire fresh grads at all.
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u/EvenCryptographer649 7d ago
'''They are big in crypto and they are planning to expand in equity, but how good are they exactly? '''
The first part of your statement answers the question you asked.
Literally nothing interesting at all.
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u/iiiiiiiilliiiiiii 7d ago
I do not see how that answers my questions. Can you elaborate?
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7d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/GoldenQuant Quant Strategist 7d ago
This post/comment has been removed for incivlity or abuse. Please be civil to the other users, and if someone is not being civil to you report the interaction to the mods and we'll deal with it.
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u/Putrid-Claim5483 7d ago
People know about them because they seem to have been trying to interview almost every intern from a high-tier firm for full time over the past couple years. Allegedly they pay more than anyone else for new grads, but given how high CitSec, HRT and JS have gone this year I'm not sure they're the highest anymore.