
Ask HN: How has BigTech not gotten better than WallStreet at predicting markets? - StandardFuture
With the massive amounts of real-time data that Facebook, Google, Amazon, Twitter, and even Apple, etc. collect on what people are buying, wanting to buy, how people feel about news and events, etc. How have these companies not completely negated the usefulness of Wall Street?<p>Is there any evidence to suggest that these large companies use all of the data they own to improve their own portfolios?
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Zhyna
Interesting topic for sure and I hold very similar views. I have a book
recommendation that might gauge your interest. "Who owns the future" by Jaron
Lanier.

He touches on many topics throughout the book and has several talks on Youtube
including ones at Microsoft research. Touches on Siren Servers which collate
big data and used for not so ethical business practices.

Bottom line to answer your last question is yes, yes they are. The invasive
spying tools implemented by these companies give them the opportunity to
tailor a very targeted marketing campaign that captures and retains people in
their business ecosystem.

Read the book a while ago so can't cite any particular evidence. Jaron pretty
much states who ever has the biggest computer with the most data wins. He saw
the birth of big insurance companies implement computing into their business
practice which was a game changer.

Interested if anyone has an real world scenarios to chime in

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CoffeePython
Predicting markets is a constant battle of finding some alpha to gain an edge
over your competitors. Where your competitors are anyone else that is trading
in the markets.

Some find alpha with speed. (See Flash Boys by Michael Lewis for a look at the
insane lengths companies go to gain fractions of a second advantages). Some
find alpha with better algorithms.

You’re positing that because the big tech companies have so much data they
should be better at predicting markets. The problem is that having the data is
just one part of the problem.

Look at satellite imagery. Every hedge fund worth its salt has probably
thought of and has used satellite imagery. Virtually all of them have the same
access to it. They purchase it through third party providers. There are
undoubtedly unused satellite imagery techniques out there that would allow you
to gain alpha in the market.

So why don’t the hedge funds use these unused strategies? Because having the
data is only one part of the problem. Analyzing, preparing, cleaning, and
finding a useful way to use the data is the other part. Hypothesizing new ways
to look at the data that would reveal some insights is a big part.

Data is helpful but it isn’t the end all for making money in the markets.

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snisarenko
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient-
market_hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient-market_hypothesis)

