QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH  ·  RISK MANAGEMENT

Markets misprice.
And markets move.
We trade both.

Cardinal Alpha is a quantitative trading firm built on two disciplines that matter more than any single strategy: rigorous research and a risk framework that comes before every trade.

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Relative value (two instruments, one spread) Systematic trend →
What We Trade

One book, three asset classes.

We trade digital assets and traditional markets side by side, on the same research and risk platform.

Digital Assets

Commodities

US Equities

Who We Are

One firm, three clocks.

Arbitrage moves on a fast clock: it finds two prices that should match, waits for the moment they don't, and closes the gap before anyone else does. Statistical arbitrage moves on a medium clock: it finds a relationship that has quietly drifted apart and waits for the model's edge to bring it back. Trend moves on a slow clock: it finds a move already underway and stays with it for as long as the move continues.

Cardinal Alpha has run one research process and one risk framework since 2020.

Who we are →
What We Do

One research bench. Three disciplines.

Relative Value

Arbitrage

Cross-venue and funding-rate basis trades, held with the aim of capturing the gap as it closes.

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Market Neutral

Statistical Arbitrage

Model-driven pairs and basket trades that fade temporary dislocations between related instruments.

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Trend & Reversion

Multi-Strategy

A systematic program that runs trend-following and mean-reversion side by side, weighing both continuously rather than committing to one regime.

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Insights

Quant and risk, in plain terms.

SHARPE RATIO

Return per unit of risk

Excess return earned for each unit of volatility taken on: the standard yardstick for whether a strategy is worth the risk it carries.

VALUE AT RISK

A floor, not a guarantee

An estimate of the maximum loss a portfolio should suffer over a given period, at a given confidence level. Useful, but only as a floor.

BASIS

The raw material of arbitrage

The gap between a futures or perpetual price and its underlying spot price. Every basis trade exists because this gap isn't always zero.

DRAWDOWN

The number that matters more

The decline from a portfolio's peak value to its subsequent trough, often more decisive to a strategy's survival than its average return.

Read the full research on Insights →