Specialist track, course code SI
Systematic Investing
Systematic trading over months and years: factors, trend following and the evidence behind them.
Systematic trading over long horizons, often called systematic investing, applies the discipline of algorithmic trading to slow signals. Positions last months, turnover is low and the edge comes from persistent return premia rather than speed. The research question is whether a premium is real, whether it will persist, and what it costs to harvest.
What does the systematic investing track cover?
The Capital Asset Pricing Model sets the benchmark every factor is measured against. Factor Investing covers value, momentum, quality and low volatility and how factor portfolios are built. Trend Following Strategies covers time-series momentum across futures markets. Fama-French Factor Models, at Researcher level, covers the three- and five-factor models, their estimation and the debate over which factors survive.
Where does this track lead?
To the Certificate in Systematic Investing, which adds Modern Portfolio Theory and futures trading and ends in a capstone multi-asset systematic portfolio.
Foundation courses in this track
Short courses that fix the mathematics, statistics and code every later course assumes.
Practitioner courses in this track
Lab-based courses. You build, test and cost real strategies and systems on market data.
- Factor Investing How equity factors are defined, built and tested: value, momentum, size, quality and low volatility, the construction of long-short factor portfolios, combining factors, and the multiple-testing problem that hides behind hundreds of published factors.
- Trend Following Strategies How systematic trend followers trade: time-series momentum, moving average and breakout signals, volatility-targeted sizing, diversified futures portfolios, and what a century of evidence says about returns and drawdowns.
Researcher courses in this track
Proof-level courses. Stochastic models, estimation theory and the literature behind each method.
Credentials that use this track
- Certificate in Systematic InvestingSix courses and a capstone on rule-based investing over months and years: asset pricing, trend following, factors and the portfolio construction that holds them together.
- Certificate in Quantitative Portfolio ManagementSix courses and a capstone on building portfolios with numbers: mean-variance and its failures, robust optimisation, Black-Litterman views, factors, attribution and risk.
Questions applicants ask
What is systematic investing?
Investing by fixed, tested rules rather than case-by-case judgement. Factor portfolios and trend-following funds are the best-known examples; both hold positions for months and rebalance on a schedule.
Is factor investing the same as smart beta?
Smart beta is the product name for long-only factor portfolios sold as index funds. The courses cover the underlying factor research, which also includes long-short and multi-factor designs.