SpectralQuant

Independent quantitative research

Markets are a diffusion.
We study its spectrum.

Research at the intersection of stochastic processes, spectral analysis and the statistics of price. Rigorous where it matters, quiet everywhere else.

Dynamics

dXt = μ(Xt, t) dt + σ(Xt, t) dWt

Density

∂t p = −∂x(μp) + ½ ∂xx(σ²p)

Spectrum

ℒf = Σk λk ⟨f, φk⟩ φk

Three questions we keep returning to

Every project starts as a probability question. The mathematics is not decoration — it is how we decide what is signal and what is noise.

Diffusion processes

How does a price move between observations? We model drift, volatility and jumps as a single process and ask what the data can actually identify about each.

Itô · Fokker–Planck · Lévy

Spectral methods

The eigenstructure of a generator tells you which modes decay fast and which persist. We use it to separate slow, tradable structure from fast, unforecastable motion.

Eigenvalues · Koopman · Random matrices

Probability & inference

Estimators that are honest about their own uncertainty. Heavy tails, regime shifts and small effective sample sizes are the normal case, not the exception.

Bayesian · Robust · Extreme value

Methods

Uncertainty spreads like heat. Our job is to measure how fast.

The heat kernel is the simplest diffusion there is: a point of certainty at t = 0, then a Gaussian whose variance grows linearly with time. Real markets are messier — variance is stochastic, tails are fat, the clock runs at different speeds — but the picture is the right one. Every model we build is a statement about the shape and speed of that spreading.

  1. 01Specify the process, not just the distribution.
  2. 02Estimate on real bars, at the resolution the question needs.
  3. 03Report the error bar with the same care as the point estimate.
p(x, t) = (2πt)−½ exp(−x² / 2t) t = 0.2 → 4
−60+6

What we believe

I

Noise is the default

A pattern has to earn its place against a random walk with the same moments. Most do not.

II

Models are hypotheses

A stochastic model is a claim about the world. It should be falsifiable on data it has not seen.

III

Time is not uniform

Volatility, volume and information arrive in bursts. The right clock is rarely the wall clock.

IV

Write it down

If the derivation cannot be written on two pages, we do not trust the number at the end of it.