‍Introduction: My journey between market finance and data

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My name is Mathieu Chabirand, and I’m the co-founder and president of the Albert Quant Trading Club. I’m currently pursuing a Master’s in Data for Finance at Albert School / Mines Paris – PSL, while working part-time at a hedge fund. I first joined the institutional sales team, before recently moving into quantitative portfolio management.

I joined Albert School last year with a clear goal in mind: to build a career in trading. It’s a demanding and increasingly competitive field where purely financial backgrounds no longer suffice. Today, institutions are looking for candidates who combine strong mathematical foundations, problem-solving skills, and mastery of programming languages and tools.

That’s exactly what drew me to Albert School’s finance track: a curriculum positioned at the crossroads of finance and data science, perfectly suited to prepare students for careers in trading and market finance. It’s also why I wanted to help create a club dedicated to trading and quantitative finance, a space where students can learn, practice, and grow together.

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The birth of the club

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The idea for the Albert Quant Trading Club (AQTC) was born this summer, after Grégoire Genest, founder and CEO of Albert School, sent a message to all students interested in finance, especially trading. Following that call, several students joined a group discussion. By the end of the meeting, a few of us shared the same drive and vision: to create Albert School’s first trading club.

Since we all came from data science–oriented programs, the focus naturally turned to quantitative finance — a field where mathematics, programming, and data analysis are key. That’s how AQTC came to life, with the ambition to become a hub for all students interested in market finance, algorithmic trading, and quantitative research.

Today, the club has around a dozen active members with complementary backgrounds. We bring together bachelor’s and master’s students, most of whom already have professional experience. All master’s students are in work-study placements, holding positions such as quantitative analyst, quant developer, trader assistant, portfolio management assistant, data scientist, or AI engineer — in top-tier institutions including investment banks, hedge funds, asset managers, insurers, and start-ups.

We’re now finalizing a new recruitment wave to bring in about ten additional members. The goal is to strengthen our technical division with students experienced in quantitative research, while also welcoming more sales- or business-oriented profiles to help us build relationships with leading global trading firms.

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Our first event: The AmplifyME x Morgan Stanley trading simulation

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A few weeks after the club’s official launch in September, we organized our first major event: a trading simulation in partnership with AmplifyME, Morgan Stanley, and UBS.

The idea was simple: to immerse participants in a realistic institutional trading environment. For two hours, students had to react in real time to market fluctuations, manage risk, execute trades, and optimize their portfolios under pressure. The simulation faithfully recreated the dynamics of a trading floor — continuous order flow, simulated economic announcements, volatility, stress, and fast-paced decision-making.

We made the event open to all Albert School students, not just club members. The result? 139 participants for this first edition.

The simulation featured two key roles:

• Sales traders, responsible for quoting bid-offer prices to their clients (the asset managers), and
  
  
• Asset managers, managing a virtual $20M portfolio, balancing risk, diversification, and performance while reacting to real-time news.
  
  

The event was a real success, giving many students their first taste of the trading experience. It’s the kind of initiative we plan to repeat regularly, to attract and train as many students as possible, including younger ones who haven’t yet gained work experience or joined the club.

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Exclusive conversations with industry professionals

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Alongside our open events, we organize small-group meetings exclusively for club members. These are informal, discussion-based sessions with professionals from the world of trading and quantitative finance. The goal is to understand the realities of the job, explore different career paths, and get actionable advice on how to build a strong profile as a student.

Recently, we had the chance to speak with a trader in Exotic Credit Trading at J.P. Morgan, one of the world’s leading investment banks. For confidentiality reasons, we won’t disclose their name, but the exchange was extremely insightful ; members were able to ask candid questions and gain a direct view of what life is like on a global trading desk.

A few weeks later, we hosted a session with Flow Traders, one of Europe’s top trading firms specializing in market making — providing liquidity to financial markets by continuously quoting buy and sell prices. The 90-minute session included two campus recruiters and a trader, who presented the company’s operations, the technical aspects of market making and ETFs, and their recruitment process. The event concluded with an interactive quiz, allowing some of our members to qualify directly for Flow Traders’ online tests and fast-track their application process, a rare and valuable opportunity.

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Building a Student Trading Division

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Beyond events, we’re now structuring a genuine student trading department within the club, led by Jad Kabbaj, bringing together about ten members currently working on backtesting and developing quantitative strategies.

Our first goal is to start with paper trading — testing our strategies on historical data without real capital — to evaluate their robustness and potential. In the future, we aim to manage a real-money portfolio, potentially in partnership with sponsors.

Beyond pure trading, this division will also explore broader areas of quantitative finance, such as volatility modeling and quant research projects.

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Our mission: Helping students succeed in a competitive field

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Trading and quantitative finance are among the most competitive industries in the world. Our mission is to help high-potential students prepare effectively — through hands-on experience, access to professional tools, inspiring interactions, and rigorous methodologies.

At the same time, we want to remain open and inclusive. Some of our events are aimed at beginners or simply curious students who might be considering a career in trading but lack foundational knowledge. Our goal is to demystify quantitative finance and give everyone the opportunity to understand what lies behind a field often seen as opaque or intimidating.

Personally, I hope AQTC becomes a launchpad for ambitious students eager to compete with the best in the world.

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A young Club with big ambitions

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The Albert Quant Trading Club is still young, but it’s growing fast. We’ve already built strong foundations, with a motivated team, a clear vision, and a professional network that expands every month.

Our ultimate goal is simple: to send as many Albert School students as possible into trading, quantitative research, and portfolio management roles at the world’s leading institutions. This is just the beginning — but we’re confident this initiative will help make Albert School a recognized name in the world of quantitative trading.

If you’re a finance professional, feel free to reach out for a chat or collaboration: aqtc@albertschool.com

—
Mathieu Chabirand
President, Albert Quant Trading Club

AQTC Board Contacts

• President: Mathieu Chabirand – mchabirand@albertschool.com
  
  
• COO: Anna Spira – aspira@albertschool.com

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This article was written by Mathieu Chabirand, student in the Master’s in Data for Finance program at Albert School / Mines Paris – PSL. He is currently working at LFIS Capital, where he serves as Portfolio Manager Assistant – Quantitative & Derivatives Strategies, after previously holding a position in Sales – Quantitative & Derivatives Strategies.

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