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"Volatility is the most important criteria behind our strategy." - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet)\nWant to build a computer that makes money?\nQuest Partners LLC has a long, robust track record with their systematic trading approach.\nThey utilize a different strategies from many of their peers and have diversified their product range to include equity programs both hedge and long only.\nAt the core of it all is their philosophy on focusing on what investors need. They provide solutions for investors rather than a purist strategy.\nLeading the way is our next guest on Top Traders Unplugged, Nigol Koulajian.\nSubscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio or TuneIn\nIn This Episode, You'll Learn:\n\nHow growing up Armenian provides a filter for the way Nigol perceives the markets\nHis experience at Anderson Consulting and how he ended up working with Solomon Brothers by chance\nWhy Nigol spend time at Colombia Business School programming and building models\n\n"Alpha does not equal skill, alpha measures\u2026 skill sometimes." - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet)\n\nWhat Nigol thinks of Value at Risk\nHow Nigol found himself as a risk arbitrage manager despite his passion for CTA strategies\nHow Nigol navigated beneficial detours before finally partnering to co-found Enterprise Asset Management in 1994\n\n"CTAs are getting better at implementing these factors on a stand alone basis, but they are becoming worse and worse at hedging equity corrections." - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet)\n\nAbout the founding and growth of Quest Partners from inceptions in 2001 to +760$ million in 2014\nThe dangers of an increased correlation between alternative strategies designed to protect against trouble in traditional investment and the traditional asset classes themselves\nLearn about self reinforcing feedback loop and how managers of growing AUM are forced to allocate to factors that are doing well (but perhaps doing well by chance)\n\n"When volatility is expanding, CTAs are expected to generate high returns." - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet)\n\nAbout the tight, automated business infrastructure of Quest Financial Partners\nAbout the shift in volatility expansion and how to measure it\nPlus much, much more...\n\n"Sometimes not getting what you want is the best thing you can get because long term there are things that are very useful that we don't even realize we don't know." - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet)\nResources & Links Mentioned in this Episode:\n\nInvestors Business Daily - The finance newspaper which inspired Nigol in the early days\n3 Research Pieces from Quest that specifically examine factor drifts that could effect the returns of CTAs\nLearn about Sharpe Ratio\nA specific trading model that trades the S&P and 30Y Bonds if it's down 3 days in a row, with a stop-loss and profit target (Full testing and code in the link).\nBTOP50 - the index that seeks to replicate the overall composition of the managed futures industry with regard to trading style and overall market exposure\nLearn about David Harding, one of the largest alternative investment managers in the world\nRead this interesting article about transcendental meditation and Nigol\nNigol's Foundation to promote studies on eastern religious philosophies and Yoga\n\nSeven CTA Factors that are not Skill Based which Drift in Long-term Returns:\n\nSector Allocation - CTAs have been allocating to fixed income because it performed well over the past few years\nLong vs. Short - 90% of CTA profits come from the long side of trades\nTime Frame - CTAs have increased model time frame\nMean Reversion - Selling rallys and buying dips within the trend\nFixed Long Equity Exposure\nCarry Models\nCredit Strategies\n\n"The benefit of positively skewed sources of alpha is that they are...