I’ve been trading quantitatively for four years, mostly trying to get a statistical arbitrage strategy to work. Lots of programming (Python) running various statistical tests and backtesting various pairs with a range of parameters. Lots of online courses (Udemy and Quantra).
The whole thing has depended on being able to set up pair trades fairly easily. Binance’s Cross Margin wallet has been ideal for this. Sell something I don’t have, it’s borrowed automatically (as long as I have adequate collateral of course). And lots of coins available for margin trading. Plus I could use the Binance REST API to check the positions whenever I wanted by running a simple script.
But Binance is no longer allowing margin trading in Australia. Admittedly I decided a couple of months ago not to try pair trading any longer due to not being profitable, so the fact that I can’t anyway is not such a big deal. Perhaps it’s a good thing I never got it to work effectively, or I’d be very pissed off at the moment. Holding a margin long position on BTC is a lot simpler, just borrow a stablecoin somewhere and trade it for BTC somewhere else. Not so much busy work managing a dozen open positions. So pair trading is just something else I’ve tried that hasn’t worked out. Still, it was interesting while it lasted. Maybe the BTC will pay for all. Hope springs eternal, they say. Perhaps I should get myself on the waiting list for public housing, just in case.