“If you can find traders that don’t want to trade but need to trade, those are great people to trade
against.”
@quant_xbt joins the Insilico Terminal Podcast to talk about building a crypto HFT business, finding
repeatable edges, and adapting as competition catches up.
We covered running HFT in JavaScript, trading against forced flows, exchange risk, and why even automated
strategies still need human judgment.
00:00 Intro and Early Crypto Trading
05:55 Finding the First Arbitrage Edge
11:31 Running HFT in JavaScript
19:17 Finding Edge Across Exchanges
25:19 Consistent Returns and Hidden Risks
33:53 Research, Automation and In-House Data
38:14 Quant vs. Discretionary Trading
45:29 Volatility, Forced Trading and Finding Edge
51:33 Bitcoin Conviction and Why Altcoins Fail