Topic · Systematic Strategies & Alpha
← All topicsAlternative Data
22 articles · 3 checkpoints · 12 deeper reads · 7 reference notes
A standalone topic: it is on no roadmap, so read it on its own terms.
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Alternative data almost never arrives labeled with a ticker. Turning a messy merchant string or app name into "this fraction of Company X's revenue" is unglamorous work, and getting it wrong quietly poisons every signal built on top.
Some alternative datasets are, quietly, material non-public information, and trading on them can be insider trading regardless of how the data was packaged or sold. Licensing a feed does not launder its legal status.
Buying an alternative data feed is closer to buying a used car than downloading a file. Most of the work happens before the first signal is ever backtested, in deciding whether the data can be trusted, is legal to use, and is actually worth what the vendor is charging.
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