Learn from professionals. Build with Cornell students.
CATC brings Cornell students together to learn from people working in quantitative finance and put those ideas into practice. Members improve shared data pipelines, develop indicators, test market questions, and turn useful research into tools the club can keep building on.
No prior trading or finance experience is required. Curiosity, creativity, and an open mind matter more than jargon.
The CATC loop
Choose a stepHow would a practitioner frame the problem?
The CATC experience
CATC connects professional perspective with a place to practice. Each side makes the other more useful.
Learn
Professionals and alumni help members understand how researchers ask questions, evaluate data, challenge models, think about risk, and build careers in quantitative finance.
Build
Teams put those lessons to work. They improve shared data, develop indicators, test market questions, document what happened, and leave useful work for the next team.
Quant, in plain language
Quantitative research uses data, statistics, and code to test questions about markets.
Illustrative example
A team could classify the filings, build a conviction score, and test whether the pattern adds information beyond effects already known to the market.
An illustrative research question, not an investment recommendation.Data
SEC Form 4 filings are public, but they mix open-market purchases with stock awards, option exercises, automatic sales, and other activity. Good research first builds a reliable dataset that separates those events before asking what insider behavior might mean.
SEC Form 4 data pipeline
No CATC result or performance claimResearch question
To test the idea, separate deliberate open-market purchases from transactions that happen for other reasons.
Indicators
Once true open-market purchases are separated from less informative transactions, the Insider Conviction Score measures how unusual and meaningful a cluster may be. The score is a hypothesis to test, not a prediction to trust automatically.
Illustrative example
Not every insider transaction carries the same information.
Research turns a messy real-world idea into a measurable indicator, then tests whether it truly adds information.
From learning to contributing
Members are not expected to understand the whole process on day one. This map shows how one question can move from professional insight to reusable work.
Insight
1 of 5
Build a foundation in code, statistics, markets, and careful research.
Start with something specific enough to investigate.
Work with members who bring different skills and perspectives.
Improve data, an indicator, a research test, or a supporting tool.
Explain decisions, hear challenges, and make the work clearer.
Share what worked, what did not, and what the team learned.
Leave behind reusable work and documentation for CATC.
People make the system useful
CATC members come from different majors and levels of experience. They share questions, review each other’s work, and build together.
Recruiting
We welcome Cornell students from every year, major, and level of experience. Bring genuine interest and an open mind; we’ll help you build the rest.
