DarkPoolKnight

Anonymous quant. Writing about markets, edge, and the game behind the numbers.
My doctor says low liquidity isn’t why I’m dehydrated.

[DarkPoolKnight @DarkPoolKnight]

@roydanroy Official support said there will be no waiting list, and it's “very unlikely” that additional tickets will become available

[DarkPoolKnight @DarkPoolKnight]

@rao2z @icmlconf Showing “sold out” since 3 hours ago. I'm wondering if this is it, or there are still chances to register for the main conference part

[DarkPoolKnight @DarkPoolKnight]

It looks like shortly after this tweet, the website form started showing “sold out” for the “conference” item (3 hours ago as already not possible to register).

Could have ofc booked earlier, but who would have thought it would be sold out before the early bird registration is closed…

I'm also joining the question of if it would still be possible to either register at the full price (rn we’re still in the early bird window) or join the waitlist or something else?

[DarkPoolKnight @DarkPoolKnight]

An eye-clear takeaway from #ICLR2026: the quant trading industry keeps getting more open.

The reason is simple - trading firms need world-class AI talent, and they’re competing for it against @OpenAI, @AnthropicAI, and @Google. You can’t recruit from a secret bunker.

Case in point: @jumptrading’s website in 2021 vs 2026. It went from a single logo on a blank page to a full recruiting pitch with research content. They even gave a talk at the conference.

The secrecy era isn’t over, but the walls are coming down.

[DarkPoolKnight @DarkPoolKnight]

Quantitative trading firms hunting for talent at #ICLR2026 before OpenAI and Anthropic get to them

[DarkPoolKnight @DarkPoolKnight]

Never name your number first

Early in my career, I learned one golden rule of salary negotiation: never name your number first.

Armed with this wisdom, I walked into an interview with the department head of a big bank. Crushed the technicals. Nailed the behaviorals. Then he asked about salary expectations.

What followed was the most stubborn negotiation of my life:

Him: What's your salary expectation?

Me: I’d love to hear your offer first - it tells me how the company values this role.

Him: No. I want to hear your number - it tells me something important about you. I could offer you zero. You wouldn’t work for zero, would you?

Me: I want market compensation.

Him: “Market compensation” is different for everyone. For the same role, salaries can vary 2–2.5x between candidates.

Me: Well, shouldn’t HR determine what the market rate is?

Him: Right, like I’m going to trust people who don’t understand the technical work to price a candidate.

Me: …Fair point, I take that back. But I could also say I want 10 million - you wouldn’t pay that either.

Him: Sure. And then I’d know we’re not a fit.

Me: I can’t name a number without knowing everything about the company.

Him: Simple question. Are you going to name a number, or not?

Me: …Probably not.

Him: Alright then, we’re done here.

*stands up, opens the door*

Me: I wouldn’t want this long conversation to be a waste of time for either of us. If you insist, I’ll name one.

Him: Too late for that now.

*we walk out*

Me: That’s a principled stance.

Him: Pleasure meeting you. All the best.

*handshake, goodbye*

To this day, I’m not sure who was more wrong.

I ended up finding a much better job shortly after.

[DarkPoolKnight @DarkPoolKnight]

How my quant journey started

Second-year applied math & CS student. Zero clue what to do with my life.

My parents’ advice was simple: get into a top university, land a corporate job, you’re set forever. Okay - but which job? Banking? Consulting? Software engineering? My program opened all of those doors, which somehow made the decision harder, not easier.

So I went back to first principles. What did I actually enjoy?

I enjoyed coding more than math. And out of dozens of math courses, only one truly clicked: probability and statistics. The idea of predicting the future fascinated me. It felt like magic.

Then a lucky break. I overheard that a professor at my university specialized in time series prediction - and that people who do this for a living make serious money. I had to learn everything he knew.

Later I learned there’s a word for people who enjoy coding and predicting time series. They’re called quants.

By the end of that year, I felt relieved. I finally had a direction. I was going to become a quant after graduation.

What I didn’t realize was how little I understood about what that actually means. But that’s a story for the next posts.