QuantFin discovery week: from theory to the trading floor

Marex is an industry partner of QuantFin Discovery, an organization providing programs designed to build technical knowledge and develop students considering careers in quantitative fields. For QuantFin Discovery Week, Marex colleagues came together with the organization to run a multi-day training camp, which cumulated in students visiting the Marex offices. During the final two days, teams across trading, sales, quantitative analysis, structuring and technology showed how mathematics is applied in financial markets to the participants. 

QuantFin Discovery Week brought together 100 of London’s top Year 12 maths students for five days of learning, problem-solving and first-hand exposure to quantitative finance.  

The programme was kicked off at Imperial College London, where students built a foundation in fixed income, probability, portfolio allocation, stock-price modelling, options and execution. They also explored different routes into the industry through a panel discussion and careers fair. 

After two days of theoretical learning, the group visited Jane Street to understand how their knowledge could be applied in a more practical setting. Quant traders Nicole Rosenfeld, Anna R., Rish Naik, Basma K. and Egor Gutorov showed students how they apply mathematical tools to assess fair value, explained the interview process and described how collaborative problem-solving shapes their day-to-day work at a market-making firm. 

Following that insight, the students took part in an estimathon, a team-based contest that combines trivia, game theory, and mathematical thinking to solve a set of estimation challenges. This challenged students to calculate quickly, communicate clearly and work as a team. After the excercise, students were invited to take part in some further team building and networking centred on the theme of “the trading floor of the future”. They looked beyond how trading floors operate today and developed their own ideas about what they could look like in the years ahead. 

For the final stage of the week, students arrived at Marexfor two days of insight on how the different parts of the process connect. 

Members of the Marex Solutions team showed students how the different parts of a trade come together. Hardik Surana, Graduate Derivatives Trader, explained how the trading desk prices products, hedges exposures and manages risk. Helen Harris, Head of Environmental Solutions, EMEA, and Magalie Lanctuit, Head of Digital Execution, then explored sales, client coverage, idea generation and the lifecycle of a trade. 

Issam Nasser, Quantitative Analyst, introduced the models, pricing tools and analytics that support the desk. Kerim Haddad, Head of Structuring, then demonstrated how structurers bring these inputs together to create bespoke payoffs and structured products. 

Together, the speakers traced the full journey of a trade: from identifying an objective, developing an idea, using a model to produce a price, building the structure and managing the resulting risk. 

Vladimir Lucic, Head of Solutions Technology & Quants, then challenged students to apply what they had learned in a maths-based trading game. Students solved problems and decided how much to bid on their answers. To succeed, teams had to do more than get the maths right. They also had to judge their confidence, decide how much to bid and choose the strategy that gave them the best chance of winning.

On Friday, Nilesh Jethwa, CEO at Marex Solutions, introduced students to the business before Eric Barthe, founder of The Derivatives Bootcamp and former Goldman Sachs exotic trader, led a masterclass on structured products. 

Eric and Nilesh then drew on their careers during a live conversation, sharing lessons and advice with the students. Eric followed this with an extended applied session and Q&A to bring the programme to a close. 

Across five days, students discovered that quantitative finance extends far beyond any single job title. It can involve mathematics, coding, trading, structuring, technology or client conversations. Each role requires people to solve problems carefully, explain ideas clearly and work effectively with others. 

QuantFin Discovery Week moved beyond the textbook and gave students a closer look at how quantitative finance works in practice, giving them a taste of the real world. 

Learn more about QuantFin Discovery Week, the full programme and the institutions involved: https://www.quantfindiscovery.com/