From Manual to Automated: A Trader's Journey from Bank Dealing Rooms to Quantitative Trading & TBD

Speaker: Stanley Chou
Affiliation: SQM Technologies

Abstract

What does it take to go from pricing interest rate derivatives over the phone at a global bank to building a fully automated high-frequency trading firm from scratch? In this talk, Stanley Chou traces his career journey from the OTC trading desks of Citibank, Deutsche Bank, and Standard Chartered to founding SQM Technologies — a proprietary quantitative trading firm specialising in exchange-traded markets. He will discuss the fundamental limitations of manual trading (speed, emotion, scalability), the structural shift from OTC to exchange-traded markets, and how concepts from mathematics, statistics, and signal processing form the backbone of modern HFT systems. The talk also covers what it actually looks like to build a quant trading firm end-to-end — from data pipelines and backtesting frameworks to low-latency execution infrastructure — and what SQM Technologies looks for in early-career researchers and engineers.

Bio

Stanley Chou is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of SQM Technologies, a proprietary quantitative and high-frequency trading firm. He began his career as an Interest Rate Derivatives and FX Flow Trader at Citibank, Deutsche Bank, and Standard Chartered, where he spent nearly a decade executing in OTC markets across Asia. In 2019, he left institutional trading to build SQM Technologies from the ground up, developing fully automated trading systems for exchange-traded equity and futures markets. Stanley holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and an MBA. SQM Technologies is currently expanding its research operations to Brisbane, Australia, in partnership with the University of Queensland.

Speaker: John Tsai

Affiliation: SQM Technologies

Abstract

What does quantitative research in high-frequency trading (HFT) have in common with experimental physics? In this talk, John Tsai reflects on his journey from graduate research on 2D semiconductors to quantitative research in HFT. He will discuss how skills developed in experimental physics transfer naturally into HFT research. The talk also examines the challenges that arise in quantitative finance and the different ways the industry responds to them. In particular, he will touch on growing computational complexity and how researchers approach problems across multiple scales.

Bio

John Tsai is the head of research of SQM Technologies, a proprietary quantitative and high-frequency trading firm. Before his career in SQM, he studied computational chemistry as an undergraduate and later pursued graduate research in simulation and experiments on two-dimensional semiconductors. After graduation, he spent time transitioning into quantitative finance by studying stochastic calculus, portfolio theory, and data science. His work focuses on quantitative research for systematic trading, with an emphasis on exploratory research, hypothesis testing, and building robust research processes for live market environments.