Credit card transactions, web scraping and document text analysis are all the “hot right now” trends for more traditional asset managers to dip their feet into the alternative data pool, and those are the ones I have found myself exploring in the last couple of years.
Eagle Alpha organized the first showcase events of consumer transaction datasets in NYC (March 23rd, 2017) and London (March 21st, 2017). Five alternative data companies pitched to 100 buyside firms in NYC and 40 in London.
Newsweek and International Business Times held an Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in Capital Markets conference in London on March 1-2, 2017.
In its recent Global Equity Outlook, BlackRock outlined its position on the attractiveness of China’s equities: “Making money in Chinese stocks requires dropping one’s preconceptions, paying close attention to policy priorities and using new data sources to generate ideas.
Dan Loeb, founder of $17 billion AUM Third Point LLC, plans to employ quantamental strategies. His idea is to use “data to support our existing fundamental strategies.”
Numerai is a San Francisco-based hedge fund run by the 29-year old former quant trader Richard Craib. Its strategy, however, is quite different from what other asset managers employ:
Manoj Narang, ex-Tradeworx founder and CEO, has set up a new hedge fund called MANA Partners that is planning to employ quant and alternative data strategies.
TABB Group, an international research and consulting firm focused solely on capital markets, published a new report called “Capturing Alternative Alpha: The Rise of Alternative Data Sets”.
It depends on how many firms a given dataset has information on. Credit card transaction data has been known to provide a strong signal on revenues as many firms and many users are covered.
Eagle Alpha’s most recent events had 6 alternative data companies pitch to buyside firms in NYC (29 Sept 2016) and London (27 Sept 2016). Each provider gave an overview of their offerings, presented three case studies, and responded to Q&A. Summaries of presentations are presented below:
