What is the Quantitative Finance Society?

The Quantitative Finance Society (QFS) is NYU Stern’s leading student-run investment and trading organization. We are a multi-strategy club with three portfolios: Global Macro, Long/Short Equity, and Quantitative.

What investment strategies do the Portfolio Teams employ?

Our portfolios will employ any strategy within their respective mandates that Portfolio Managers deem accretive to returns. Long/Short members have pitched value investments, growth investments, shorts, event-driven trades, convertible arbitrage, quarterly earnings trades, merger risk arbitrage, and more. Global Macro members generally develop a differentiated view to the market on central bank policy, political outcomes, commodity prices, and more and select specific securities and positions to express those views. The Quant Portfolio has employed strategies including pairs trading, mean reversion, statistical arbitrage, sentiment analysis, momentum investing, and more.

What are the responsibilities of Portfolio Team members?

Portfolio Team members participate in our workshop program after joining to receive rigorous training in investment and trading research, analysis, and pitching for their respective portfolios. They are responsible for regularly researching, writing, and presenting pitches to their portfolio teams and attending weekly all-portfolios, portfolio-specific, and general meetings.

What securities does QFS invest in and trade?

QFS will invest in and trade any security with enough market liquidity. The Long/Short Equity Portfolio typically invests in publicly traded stocks but also evaluates corporate bonds and hybrid securities. The Global Macro Portfolio primarily trades currencies, government bonds, swaps, forwards, futures, and other derivative instruments, and the Quant Portfolio will algorithmically trade any securities that offer an opportunity for arbitrage or systematic profits.

What is the club’s investment time horizon?

Each portfolio runs a trading book in competition with the other portfolios that spans the semester. However, the Portfolio Teams evaluate pitches with varying investment horizons.

How do I get involved?

Attend our general meetings every Tuesday at 12:30 PM in T-201 to become a General Member. If interested in joining a Portfolio Team, we encourage you to participate in our recruiting process, which kicks off in the first week of every semester.

Who is eligible to join QFS?

Anyone currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree-granting program at New York University is eligible to apply for a Portfolio Team position.

What are you looking for in Portfolio Team candidates?

We seek candidates with a passion for financial markets, investing, and trading, strong analytical capabilities, deep-seated curiosity, and strong investing intuition. We do not require candidates to have prior investing or trading experience.