Proof

Building a New Institutional Trading Algorithm: Aggressive Liquidity Seeker

The SEC Isn’t Mad at PFOF. They’re Just Disappointed.

Payment For Order Flow, or PFOF as it is lovingly called, has become a controversial subject in retail trading. Advocates say it produces better prices for retail investors, while opponents lament the conflicts of interest it creates…

All I Want for Christmas Is a Broker-Dealer

This time of year, the phrase “woman-owned business” conjures images of soft knitted scarfs, ethically sourced coffee grounds, and the gift card you always receive from your Aunt Carol. We read that label as a communication of values: either the values…

Reports from Proof’s Quantitative Research Team — part 1 of many

Ok, Economists — Let’s Talk about Domestic Violence

October is domestic violence awareness month, and I annually struggle with what to do about this. It’s not a topic where I can be a dispassionate intellectual, as domestic abuse has deeply affected people close to me. But sadly, at least in…

Announcing Proof CTO Marcio Moreno and COO Nila Das

When a new hire joins Proof, they are making a conscious trade-off: they are forgoing significant cash compensation, especially in the short term, to be here. There is a lottery ticket aspect to joining Proof, like with any startup, but if…

PROD vs UAT: How to make sure a UAT environment is a good replication of Prod and vice-versa?

Proof’s Design for Public-facing TCA: Initial Results for Six Months of Data

Our CTO Transition in Retrospect

Over the past few months, we have been dealing with the attrition of our CTO. It has been a…

Change is Hard, Let’s Go Blogging?

I know the rules for writing a catchy post about gender diversity in finance. I’m supposed to present a problem: “Women own only X% of the stock market!” and then present a solution: “That’s why we’re launching Maid Marian Trading!” The problem is not supposed to be…

Implicit Commissions

In the institutional trading world, folks generally think about trading costs in two terms: explicit costs and implicit…

Proof Trading Progress Update: Q1 2022

This first quarter of 2022 has been the most up and down period since we started Proof — it has been a rollercoaster. Up to this point, our journey had been extraordinarily smooth and steady: we would set ambitious but achievable goals each quarter, we would…

The best technologist I’ve ever worked with: dealing with the attrition of our CTO

Our CTO Prerak is leaving Proof. He has given us three amazing years as we have gone from launch to a mature and stable institutional trading platform. Every new technology system…

A Holiday Calendar For The Ops Team

A Trading and Settlement Calendar for US Equities

Proof Engineering: Security Master

How we compile a US Equities security master every morning

Aggregation isn’t a privacy guarantee. Here’s what we do instead.

The average American believes they are exceptional. So why should they believe that aggregation alone achieves data privacy? If you are a tall tree in a world of short bushes, there’s no way to hide in a crowd.

Trading in the Cloud: Market Microstructure Considerations

Does a US Equities agency broker need…

Building a High Performance Trading System in the Cloud

A discussion on why and how running a…