Hard Labor: Dealing With Alternative Data
Everyone’s excited about the potential untapped alpha promised by “alternative data,” yet those who work with it are far from excited about the prospect of evaluating unwieldy and unstructured datasets. Max Bowie looks at the practical challenges of dealing with these, and how firms are using automation and third-party platforms to speed up the process and start generating alpha faster.
And in today’s financial markets, just as in the gold rush, when you strike a seam, you have to move fast to mine its value before others start digging in the same place, and approach it as industrially as possible.
But how can you industrialize a process where each and every dataset represents a completely new terrain to dig in? And how can firms speed up the process of evaluating which seams will yield the richest results? Because as any “49er” would know, the hardest part isn’t digging out
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: https://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4), printing is limited to a single copy.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4), an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use. You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
More on Data Management
EDM Council expands reach with Object Management Group merger
The rebranded EDM Council now includes members from industries outside financial services.
As datacenter cooling issues rise, FPGAs could help
IMD Wrap: As temperatures are spiking, so too is demand for capacity related to AI applications. Max says FPGAs could help to ease the burden being forced on datacenters.
Bloomberg introduces geopolitical country-of-risk scores to terminal
Through a new partnership with Seerist, terminal users can now access risk data on seven million companies and 245 countries.
A network of Cusip workarounds keeps the retirement industry humming
Restrictive data licenses—the subject of an ongoing antitrust case against Cusip Global Services—are felt keenly in the retirement space, where an amalgam of identifiers meant to ensure licensing compliance create headaches for investment advisers and investors.
LLMs are making alternative datasets ‘fuzzy’
Waters Wrap: While large language models and generative/agentic AI offer an endless amount of opportunity, they are also exposing unforeseen risks and challenges.
Cloud offers promise for execs struggling with legacy tech
Tech execs from the buy side and vendor world are still grappling with how to handle legacy technology and where the cloud should step in.
Bloomberg expands user access to new AI document search tool
An evolution of previous AI-enabled features, the new capability allows users to search terminal content as well as their firm’s proprietary content by asking natural language questions.
CDOs must deliver short-term wins ‘that people give a crap about’
The IMD Wrap: Why bother having a CDO when so many firms replace them so often? Some say CDOs should stop focusing on perfection, and focus instead on immediate deliverables that demonstrate value to the broader business.
