FAQ
Questions, answered plainly.
What the firm does, what it does not do, and how an engagement actually runs.
01 / Questions
Common questions
If something is not covered here, ask directly.
- What does Hessian Research do?
- It is a quantitative research and development firm. It designs systematic strategies and builds the research, backtesting and execution infrastructure behind them, for clients. Deliverables are research, analysis, source code, documentation and running systems.
- Does the firm manage money or trade its own capital?
- No. Hessian Research does not manage, hold or take custody of client funds, does not exercise discretion over any account, and does not trade proprietary capital. Systems built under an engagement are operated by the client, on the client's own infrastructure and accounts.
- Do you provide investment advice or trading signals?
- No. Nothing published here or delivered under an engagement is investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer or solicitation. The firm does not sell signals and does not operate a managed account or fund.
- Do you publish a track record?
- No performance record is offered, published or implied. Research and engineering are judged on method and delivery rather than returns, which is why the method is stated in full on the method page: an edge is a claim about curvature, not just about direction.
- What markets and asset classes do you work across?
- Engagements are taken on globally across equities, futures, options, fixed income, FX, commodities, credit and digital assets, listed and over the counter, from vanilla instruments through to structured and path-dependent payoffs. In practice a mandate is scoped to the venues a client already trades.
- What does a typical engagement look like?
- One of three shapes: a research engagement answering a defined question, a scoped build delivered end to end, or an independent review of a system that already exists. Each is scoped before work starts, and each ends with handover to the people who will operate it.
- Who owns the code and research you produce?
- The client. Deliverables are handed over with documentation and a walkthrough, and the engagement is not considered finished until the client's team can run what was built.
- How is work priced?
- Engagements are typically fixed-scope, quoted after a scoping conversation once the problem is understood. Ongoing work after handover is arranged as a retainer where a system needs continued research or operational support.
- What do you need to start?
- A description of the asset class and venue, what exists today, what it needs to do, and any deadline. A rough description is enough to establish fit, and nothing confidential is needed at first contact.
- How do you handle confidentiality?
- Client work, data and strategy detail are not discussed or published. Nothing on this site is drawn from client engagements. Published notes are written from general domain knowledge rather than from any client's material.
- Which technologies do you actually build against?
- The systems page sets out the full chain a strategy passes through, from market data and storage through connectivity protocols, order and execution management, venues, clearing, risk and production operations. Work is scoped against whichever links a client already operates.
- Where are you based?
- New York, London and Singapore.