{"id":2027,"date":"2020-04-17T16:33:23","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T23:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nau.edu\/undergraduate-research\/?page_id=2027"},"modified":"2022-05-31T09:39:29","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T16:39:29","slug":"big-data","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/student-research-stories\/big-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Reilley Luedde: Can big data make big money? Undergraduate researcher hopes to find out through math, data analysis, business acumen"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- shortcode-right-column -->\n<div class=\"shortcode-right-column\" >\n    <div class=\"shortcode-right-column__container\"><!-- shortcode-block -->\n<div class=\"shortcode-block\">\n      <div class=\"block-header\">\n        <h3>Student spotlight<\/h3>\n    <\/div>\n          <div class=\"block-body\">\n      <div>\n<p data-ektron-preserve=\"true\">Reilley Luedde<\/p>\n<p><strong>Major<\/strong>: Mathematics with minors in Computer Science, Actuarial Science, and Business<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mentor<\/strong>: Paul Wagner<\/p>\n<\/div>\n          <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<h1><strong>Can big data make big money?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h3>Undergraduate researcher Reilley Luedde hopes to find out through math, data analysis, business acumen<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-2028\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/download-232x174.jpg\" alt=\"Reilly Leudde working on a computer\" width=\"364\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/download-232x174.jpg 232w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/download-464x348.jpg 464w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 364px) 100vw, 364px\" \/>The title of <strong>Reilley Luedde\u2019s<\/strong> research project is \u201cRelating Trade Conditions and Behavior of Currency Markets Using Technical Analysis,\u201d which is another way of saying he\u2019s using big data to try to make big money. Luedde is working to find a system or algorithm that produces profits over the long run in the currency market.<\/p>\n<p>The currency market functions much like the stock market in that traders buy and sell currencies from around the world, trying to take advantage of shifting exchange rates to make a profit.<\/p>\n<p>Luedde, who is majoring in <a href=\"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/math\/minors\/mathematics\/\">Mathematics<\/a> and minoring in <a href=\"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/school-of-informatics-computing-and-cyber-systems\/minor-computer-science\/\">Computer Science<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/math\/minors\/actuarial-science\/\">Actuarial Science<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/catalog.nau.edu\/Catalog\/details?plan=BUSMN&amp;catalogYear=1314\">Business<\/a>, initiated the project following his own academic interests. He presented his idea to a coding club, where he found research partners <strong>Anthony Simard<\/strong> and <a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/student-research-stories\/chris-keefe\/\"><strong>Chris Keefe<\/strong><\/a>. The trio then went to The W. A. Franke College of Business to find a professor willing to mentor them. There they teamed up with Assistant Professor of Practice <a href=\"https:\/\/profile.directory.nau.edu\/person\/phw\"><strong>Paul Wagner<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Their project includes gathering historical information about market activity and looking for patterns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re essentially building models that tell us when to buy and sell a certain asset,\u201d Luedde said. \u201cRight now, we have what are called indicators\u2014basically recalculations of the price of the assets. So a moving average, for example, is one indicator. And that averages prices over a certain period, for example, over the last 20 days. And then when another day comes around, it takes the last 20 days, starting from the new day. So it&#8217;s like a constant window that is moving as the price changes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Luedde has been working to translate these indicators into the Python programming language in preparation for data analysis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ve also been doing a little bit of research to learn what is a profitable system, what isn&#8217;t a profitable system and what might be a red herring\u2014something that seems very good on the outside, but actually isn&#8217;t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The work Luedde and the team are doing represents a financial trading discipline called technical analysis, which is essentially using patterns in price and indicators to predict future price.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you can predict future price with some sort of reliability, then that means you can extract some sort of profit,\u201d Luedde explained.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a field he wants to explore in graduate school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to get into a quantitative engineering or quantitative finance master\u2019s program so I figured I should get some research experience before applying to grad school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s too soon to say if the research partners have successfully mixed the secret data sauce for profit, but the experience alone has been worth the hard work, Luedde said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ve learned about how research is done,\u201d he said. \u201cI&#8217;m expanding my skill set and I&#8217;m learning new things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He aspires to be a quantitative trader on Wall Street, \u201cwhich is somebody who does pretty much exactly what we&#8217;re doing, except with a lot more math.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Luedde and his partners will be presenting the results of their research at the upcoming <a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/undergraduate-symposium\/\">Undergraduate Symposium<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, they\u2019re discussing the ethics and legalities involved, should they find a successful formula, such as whether they should share the details or keep the information private.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat&#8217;s something we&#8217;ve been thinking about. And that&#8217;s a bridge we&#8217;re going to cross if it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can big data make big money?\u00a0 Undergraduate researcher Reilley Luedde hopes to find out through math, data analysis, business acumen The title of Reilley Luedde\u2019s research project is \u201cRelating Trade Conditions and Behavior of Currency Markets Using Technical Analysis,\u201d which is another way of saying he\u2019s using big data to try to make big money. 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