Trader Roadmap

QSG, 2023. An intermediate stage as the firm grew, designed to support focus, collaboration, and sustained research. 

QSG provides new traders with a one-year roadmap designed to support the development of a durable, independent quantitative trading business. The roadmap reflects how traders typically progress as junior traders while building skill, judgment, and consistency. It is intended as a practical framework, not a classroom program or a rigid training schedule.

All participants enter QSG as junior traders and are backed by firm capital, infrastructure, and technology. Traders contribute their time, focus, and effort, while QSG assumes the financial risk of live trading. Access to internal resources, tools, and mentorship is provided throughout, with progression shaped by results, discipline, and initiative rather than prescribed timelines.

At the beginning of the roadmap, junior traders focus on building familiarity with QSG’s systems, data, and trading environment while developing their first set of independent trading ideas. This phase emphasizes self-directed research, strategy formulation, and validation, supported by internal resources and mentorship.

Traders typically spend this early portion translating concepts into working strategies, testing assumptions through backtesting and simulation, and developing the analytical discipline required to manage strategies responsibly. Progress is driven by demonstrated understanding and execution.

Typical areas of focus:

• Building a solid foundation in market mechanics, risk management, and QSG’s internal tools
• Designing, testing, and validating initial trading strategies suitable for live capital consideration
   

As traders progress through the roadmap, the focus shifts toward operational readiness and disciplined risk management. During this phase, junior traders prepare strategies for controlled live deployment, with emphasis on position sizing, drawdown management, and behavior under real market conditions.

Traders work toward launching strategies at a limited scale, using internal tools to observe performance, validate assumptions, and refine execution. Advancement reflects growing risk awareness and operational competence.

Typical areas of focus:

• Implementing robust risk management frameworks and controls
• Deploying strategies at a test scale and evaluating performance under live conditions
   

In the later portion of the roadmap, traders who demonstrate consistent performance and disciplined risk management focus on controlled scaling, optimization, and portfolio development. This phase emphasizes thoughtful expansion of strategy scope, diversification, and execution quality, while maintaining strict risk controls.

Strategies are refined and evolved based on live performance, feedback, and changing market conditions. Capital allocation and complexity increase gradually as traders demonstrate consistency and maturity in decision-making.

Typical areas of focus:

• Scaling strategy portfolios with disciplined risk management
• Optimizing strategies through ongoing performance review and iteration
• Managing a diversified set of strategies with increasing independence and accountability
   

Throughout the roadmap, QSG provides firm capital, internal infrastructure, and mentorship to support trader development. Progression and capital allocation are performance-based and individualized, reflecting a long-term partnership between the firm and its traders. The roadmap is intended to provide transparency into how traders typically evolve over time, while preserving flexibility to adapt to individual strengths, styles, and market conditions.