Hey everyone, we had our first intro meeting last Friday. About 5-6 of us were able to make it and had a cool conversation! We left with some takeaways for ideas on how to contribute to the group. We figure - we can do presentations on our algo projects and have them peer reviewed by the group - we can work on a project that tackles a pillar of algorithmic trading as a group. let me know what you think would be best! Attatched are the meeting notes: Meeting Purpose Introductory call to connect on algorithmic trading projects and challenges. Key Takeaways - The "Edge" Debate: The group debated where a retail edge exists. Nik argued for using high-resolution MBO data to detect institutional order flow before patterns form, while Surya advocated for simple, robust price-action strategies that avoid parameter optimization and overfitting. - Data Quality is Paramount: Alpaca's free data is unreliable (UEX feed covers only ~3% of the market), making its $90/mo SIP feed or a premium vendor like DataBento necessary for accurate backtesting. - Alpaca's PDT Trap: Alpaca's margin-account-only structure forces all users into Pattern Day Trader (PDT) rules, requiring a $25k balance to avoid trade limits—a critical, often overlooked detail. - Surya's High-Return Strategy: A simple, 15-min price-action strategy shows >30% annual returns on Tesla since 2021. The group will analyze its logic to understand why it works on specific stocks and how to generalize it. Topics Member Intros & Project Status - Jared: Developer (ex-MSFT/IBM) focused on a prop firm (FTMO) challenge and local algo development. - Zach: Scientist learning Python for quant finance; building a backtesting engine but struggling to find a profitable strategy. - Dennis: Medical genetics grad starting a data science Master's; seeking a clear roadmap for algo trading. - Nik: Data analytics veteran building complex options/futures strategies; paper trading results don't match backtests, prompting a shift to simpler futures strategies. - Surya: Python developer with a backtested strategy showing >30% annual returns on Tesla since 2021.