Part 2 · Trading

Quantitative Trading.

Systematic rules, research discipline, and 173 strategy guides—from options structures to macro overlays.

Read Overview Browse Strategies

From Basic Charts to Systematic Rules

Basic Trading taught you to read price, volume, and structure. Quantitative trading asks the next question: can you write down exactly when you would act—and would that rule still make sense after fees, slippage, and a bad week? That shift—from interpretation to specification—is what separates discretionary habit from a research process you can audit.

The catalog below draws on the academic reference 151 Trading Strategies (Kakushadze and Serur). Each entry is reorganized for QUSXFI learners: economic idea first, implementation second, failure modes third. We do not treat any strategy as a product pitch. We treat it as a hypothesis that must survive data, costs, and regime change before it earns a place in a live book.

You will see options income structures, equity factor tilts, relative-value pairs, macro overlays, and specialist instruments. Some are beginner-friendly in concept; none are beginner-friendly in execution without paper trading and a written risk budget. Work through one asset class at a time, compare related cards in the sidebar, and keep Basic Trading open for chart context when a signal references levels, gaps, or participation.

Across 173 guides, the through-line is the same: define the rule, test it out of sample, document where it breaks, and only then discuss capital. That discipline is what professional quants still use after decades in the market—it is not jargon for its own sake; it is how you avoid mistaking a backtest for a career.

Showing 173 strategies

Options 58 strategies

Options strategies express a view on direction, volatility, or time decay—or combine all three. Payoffs are nonlinear: small mistakes in strike selection or expiry can dominate the trade. Study greeks and assignment risk before sizing.

Covered call

Long stock plus short calls: income when you are neutral-to-bullish, but upside is capped and downside is still real.

Covered put

Short stock hedged with short puts: a bearish income structure with open-ended risk if the market rips higher.

Protective put

Own the stock, buy downside insurance—bullish with a floor, at the cost of premium drag.

Protective call

A systematic options approach—Protective call—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Bull call spread

A systematic options approach—Bull call spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Bull put spread

A systematic options approach—Bull put spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Bear call spread

A systematic options approach—Bear call spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Bear put spread

A systematic options approach—Bear put spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Long synthetic forward

A systematic options approach—Long synthetic forward—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Short synthetic forward

A systematic options approach—Short synthetic forward—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Long combo

A systematic options approach—Long combo—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Short combo

A systematic options approach—Short combo—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Bull call ladder

A systematic options approach—Bull call ladder—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Bull put ladder

A systematic options approach—Bull put ladder—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Bear call ladder

A systematic options approach—Bear call ladder—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Bear put ladder

A systematic options approach—Bear put ladder—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Calendar call spread

A systematic options approach—Calendar call spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Calendar put spread

A systematic options approach—Calendar put spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Diagonal call spread

A systematic options approach—Diagonal call spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Diagonal put spread

A systematic options approach—Diagonal put spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Long straddle

A bet on movement—or its absence—via straddles and strangles; theta and implied vol matter as much as direction.

Long strangle

A bet on movement—or its absence—via straddles and strangles; theta and implied vol matter as much as direction.

Long guts

A bet on movement—or its absence—via straddles and strangles; theta and implied vol matter as much as direction.

Short straddle

A bet on movement—or its absence—via straddles and strangles; theta and implied vol matter as much as direction.

Short strangle

A bet on movement—or its absence—via straddles and strangles; theta and implied vol matter as much as direction.

Short guts

A bet on movement—or its absence—via straddles and strangles; theta and implied vol matter as much as direction.

Long call synthetic straddle

A bet on movement—or its absence—via straddles and strangles; theta and implied vol matter as much as direction.

Long put synthetic straddle

A bet on movement—or its absence—via straddles and strangles; theta and implied vol matter as much as direction.

Short call synthetic straddle

A bet on movement—or its absence—via straddles and strangles; theta and implied vol matter as much as direction.

Short put synthetic straddle

A bet on movement—or its absence—via straddles and strangles; theta and implied vol matter as much as direction.

Covered short straddle

A bet on movement—or its absence—via straddles and strangles; theta and implied vol matter as much as direction.

Covered short strangle

A bet on movement—or its absence—via straddles and strangles; theta and implied vol matter as much as direction.

Strap

A systematic options approach—Strap—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Strip

A systematic options approach—Strip—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Call ratio backspread

A systematic options approach—Call ratio backspread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Put ratio backspread

A systematic options approach—Put ratio backspread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Ratio call spread

A systematic options approach—Ratio call spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Ratio put spread

A systematic options approach—Ratio put spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Long call butterfly

A systematic options approach—Long call butterfly—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Modified call butterfly

A systematic options approach—Modified call butterfly—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Long put butterfly

A systematic options approach—Long put butterfly—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Modified put butterfly

A systematic options approach—Modified put butterfly—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Short call butterfly

A systematic options approach—Short call butterfly—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Short put butterfly

A systematic options approach—Short put butterfly—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

“Long” iron butterfly

A systematic options approach—“Long” iron butterfly—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

“Short” iron butterfly

A systematic options approach—“Short” iron butterfly—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Long call condor

A systematic options approach—Long call condor—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Long put condor

A systematic options approach—Long put condor—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Short call condor

A systematic options approach—Short call condor—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Short put condor

A systematic options approach—Short put condor—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Long iron condor

A systematic options approach—Long iron condor—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Short iron condor

A systematic options approach—Short iron condor—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Long box

A systematic options approach—Long box—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Collar

A systematic options approach—Collar—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Bullish short seagull spread

A systematic options approach—Bullish short seagull spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Bearish long seagull spread

A systematic options approach—Bearish long seagull spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Bearish short seagull spread

A systematic options approach—Bearish short seagull spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Bullish long seagull spread

A systematic options approach—Bullish long seagull spread—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Stocks 20 strategies

Single-name equity strategies lean on signals—momentum, value, quality, low volatility, pairs—that rank or filter a universe. Capacity, borrow, and corporate actions matter as much as the signal itself.

Price-momentum

Rank winners versus losers on a lookback window; works until crowding, reversals, or a regime shift punishes trend followers.

Earnings-momentum

Rank winners versus losers on a lookback window; works until crowding, reversals, or a regime shift punishes trend followers.

Value (Stocks)

Buy cheap versus fundamentals or price, avoid expensive; value can underperform for years before mean reversion arrives.

Low-volatility anomaly

A systematic stocks approach—Low-volatility anomaly—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Implied volatility

A systematic stocks approach—Implied volatility—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Multifactor portfolio

A systematic stocks approach—Multifactor portfolio—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Residual momentum

Rank winners versus losers on a lookback window; works until crowding, reversals, or a regime shift punishes trend followers.

Pairs trading

Trade two co-moving names when their spread deviates; relationship breaks are the tail risk.

Mean-reversion - single cluster

Fade extremes when price stretches from fair value; trends can keep stretching longer than your margin account.

Mean-reversion - multiple clusters

Fade extremes when price stretches from fair value; trends can keep stretching longer than your margin account.

Single moving average

A systematic stocks approach—Single moving average—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Two moving averages

A systematic stocks approach—Two moving averages—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Three moving averages

A systematic stocks approach—Three moving averages—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Support and resistance

A systematic stocks approach—Support and resistance—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Channel

A systematic stocks approach—Channel—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Event-driven - M&A

A systematic stocks approach—Event-driven - M&A—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Machine learning - single-stock KNN

A systematic stocks approach—Machine learning - single-stock KNN—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Statistical arbitrage - optimization

Trade two co-moving names when their spread deviates; relationship breaks are the tail risk.

Market-making

A systematic stocks approach—Market-making—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Alpha combos

A systematic stocks approach—Alpha combos—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) 8 strategies

ETF strategies trade liquidity, tracking error, and basket composition rather than one company's story. Spreads and creation/redemption mechanics can help or hurt systematic entries.

Sector momentum rotation

Rank winners versus losers on a lookback window; works until crowding, reversals, or a regime shift punishes trend followers.

Sector momentum rotation with MA filter

Rank winners versus losers on a lookback window; works until crowding, reversals, or a regime shift punishes trend followers.

Dual-momentum sector rotation

Rank winners versus losers on a lookback window; works until crowding, reversals, or a regime shift punishes trend followers.

Alpha rotation

A systematic exchange-traded funds (etfs) approach—Alpha rotation—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

R-squared

A systematic exchange-traded funds (etfs) approach—R-squared—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Mean-reversion

Fade extremes when price stretches from fair value; trends can keep stretching longer than your margin account.

Leveraged ETFs (LETFs)

A systematic exchange-traded funds (etfs) approach—Leveraged ETFs (LETFs)—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Multi-asset trend following

A systematic exchange-traded funds (etfs) approach—Multi-asset trend following—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Fixed Income 15 strategies

Rate and credit strategies respond to curve shape, carry, roll-down, and spread widening. Duration risk can overwhelm a clever relative-value idea in a single policy surprise.

Bullets

A systematic fixed income approach—Bullets—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Barbells

A systematic fixed income approach—Barbells—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Ladders

A systematic fixed income approach—Ladders—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Bond immunization

A systematic fixed income approach—Bond immunization—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Dollar-duration-neutral butterfly

A systematic fixed income approach—Dollar-duration-neutral butterfly—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Fifty-fifty butterfly

A systematic fixed income approach—Fifty-fifty butterfly—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Regression-weighted butterfly

A systematic fixed income approach—Regression-weighted butterfly—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Maturity-weighted butterfly

A systematic fixed income approach—Maturity-weighted butterfly—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Low-risk factor

A systematic fixed income approach—Low-risk factor—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Value factor

Buy cheap versus fundamentals or price, avoid expensive; value can underperform for years before mean reversion arrives.

Carry factor

A systematic fixed income approach—Carry factor—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Rolling down the yield curve

A systematic fixed income approach—Rolling down the yield curve—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Yield curve spread (flatteners & steepeners)

A systematic fixed income approach—Yield curve spread (flatteners & steepeners)—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

CDS basis arbitrage

A systematic fixed income approach—CDS basis arbitrage—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Swap-spread arbitrage

A systematic fixed income approach—Swap-spread arbitrage—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Indexes 5 strategies

Index-linked approaches sit on beta, roll costs, and rebalancing flows. What works on a back-adjusted futures series may change on the live roll calendar.

Volatility 7 strategies

Volatility trading is about the second moment—how much prices move—not just which way. Mean reversion in vol and term-structure trades are regime-sensitive.

Foreign Exchange (FX) 6 strategies

FX strategies combine macro drivers, rate differentials, and microstructure around fixes and sessions. Leverage magnifies both signal and noise.

Commodities 6 strategies

Commodity strategies face seasonality, storage, convenience yield, and roll impact in futures curves. Physical reality eventually shows up in the data.

Futures 7 strategies

Futures strategies often hinge on calendar spreads, hedging ratios, and margin. Contango and backwardation are not footnotes—they are P&L.

Structured Assets 6 strategies

Structured credit and tranche ideas embed correlation and liquidity assumptions that fail together in stress. Complexity is a risk multiplier, not a diversifier by default.

Convertibles 2 strategies

Convertible strategies blend bond floor, equity optionality, and credit spread. You are effectively trading three instruments wearing one ticker.

Tax Arbitrage 3 strategies

Tax-driven relative value depends on jurisdiction, law changes, and accounting treatment. Academic edge can vanish when rules or enforcement shift.

Miscellaneous Assets 4 strategies

Specialist markets—inflation-linked bonds, weather hedges, spark spreads—carry idiosyncratic data and legal constraints. Verify you can actually access the underlying before building a backtest.

Distressed Assets 7 strategies

Distressed and event-driven ideas sit inside bankruptcy law, creditor hierarchy, and long timelines. Mark-to-market pain can arrive before recovery value proves out.

Real Estate 8 strategies

Real estate strategies mix illiquidity, local cycles, leverage, and operational work. A backtest of REIT prices is not the same as buying and managing property.

Mixed-asset diversification with real estate

A systematic real estate approach—Mixed-asset diversification with real estate—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Intra-asset diversification within real estate

A systematic real estate approach—Intra-asset diversification within real estate—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Property type diversification

A systematic real estate approach—Property type diversification—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Economic diversification

A systematic real estate approach—Economic diversification—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Property type and geographic diversification

A systematic real estate approach—Property type and geographic diversification—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Real estate momentum - regional approach

Rank winners versus losers on a lookback window; works until crowding, reversals, or a regime shift punishes trend followers.

Inflation hedging with real estate

A systematic real estate approach—Inflation hedging with real estate—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Fix-and-flip

A systematic real estate approach—Fix-and-flip—defined by explicit rules, testable on history, and fragile when costs or regimes change.

Cash 5 strategies

Cash and funding strategies look boring until liquidity dries up. Repo haircuts, counterparty risk, and intraday funding gaps belong in the risk section, not a footnote.

Cryptocurrencies 2 strategies

Digital assets trade 24/7 with fragmented liquidity and evolving regulation. Model risk and exchange risk are first-class citizens here.

Global Macro 4 strategies

Global macro strategies tie positions to growth, inflation, policy, and geopolitical shocks. Correlations spike when the macro story changes—exactly when you need diversification most.