About the Journal

The online open-access journal of Algorithmic Trading and Controls (ATC) publishes novel works on algorithmic trading and related automated risk control frameworks. It also promotes education, career development, and community services on ATC. 

Trading generates revenues and controls guard against risks. In combination, they consist into the very Yin-Yang of modern high-tech trading and profoundly impact the entire financial landscape, including market efficiency and qualities, integrity, and the overall health of the trillion-dollar industries of retirement funds, pension funds, and university endowment funds, etc.

The journal ATC strives to contribute to this important field in contemporary FinTech. 

Primary Scope:

 ATC welcomes original contributions from active industrial practitioners, academic researchers, as well as risk and control professionals including regulators (e.g., the Federal Reserve, SEC, FINRA, or the PRA). The primary scope covers the following areas (all in the context of ATC), though not always limited to, 

  • Mathematical and statistical models for optimal trading, and their solution methods
  • Application of machine learning models and methods, and the associated risk controls
  • Impact or trends of machine learning and A.I. on the evolution of automated trading
  • Data analytics and methodologies vital to pre-trade analysis or post-trade surveillance
  • Properties of market structures and limit order books, and applications to ATC
  • Market fragmentation and fusion, and smart order/venue routing models and analysis
  • ATC models or methodologies for less liquid securities or asset classes, role of dark venues
  • Automated trading for vanilla or exotic dertivatives, and fast real-time pricing/risk engines
  • Systematic design of low-latency computational ATC networks and frameworks
  • Analysis on the impact of ATC on modern market structures, qualities, and efficiency
  • (Controls) Institutional control and compliance policies, procedures, and frameworks that can be generalized to the entire algorithmic trading industry
  • (Controls) Application of machine learning and A.I. to the detection of frauds or market manipulations
  • (Regulatory) Emerging regulatory focuses and trends, or analysis and dissemination of new regulatory rules, e.g., Mifid on algorithmic trading
  • (Education) High-quality, innovative, and publishable student projects on ATC (must be authored only by students, with a single-page recommendation letter from the lecturing professor (uploaded during paper submission))
  • (Education) General commentaries or observations on graduate-level teaching and education on ATC (written by professors)
  • (Career Development) In-depth commentaries or views related to the career development on ATC 
  • (Book Reviews) Independent and professional reviews of published books on ATC
  • (Special Issues as Conference Proceedings (for conference/session organizers)) Entire proceedings on ATC-related conferences or sessions, already refereed and accepted by conference/session organizers

Please write to the Dedicated Editor at ojs-atc@deepquantech.com, should any uncertainties surface.

Unique Model:

As an online open-access journal, ATC operates very differently from all the rest.

  • (Dedicated Editor) All manuscripts are reviewed and edited by the Dedicated Editor (DE). DE is an entirally new concept and subject to the test of time. The exceptions are special issues for conference proceedings, for which the organizers are responsible for reviewing and accepting papers while the DE will work on the final copyediting. 
  • (Moderately For-Profit) With dedicated full-time reviewing and editing, ATC is openly for-profit, but on a moderate level to cover the costs of dedicated web hosting and IT development, various application or license fees (e.g., DOI via CrossRef), and the stipend of the Editor, etc.
  • (Discretionary) A manuscript could be returned if it entirely falls outside the expertise of the DE. But returning will never be based on irrelevant factors such as race or gender, etc.
  • (Real-Time Reviewing: 5D5W) A new submission is either "Returned to Authors" or "Accepted for Review" in 5 business days. If Accepted for Review, the initial round of review and decision will be completed in 5 weeks, during which the DE and the Corresponding Author(s) will maintain close or real-time communication.

Hence ATC is similar to a discretionary OTC (over-the-counter) product common in the financial industry. Only authors who understand and are comfortable with this unique operating model should submit.

To sum up, ATC is a discretionary, moderately for-profit, and online open-access journal.  Cost reduction is made possible by assigning a full-time DE covering all the combined work loads of Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, Associate Editor(s), referees, secretaries, IT developers and site masters, copyeditors, and marketing staffs if any.  As a result, in order to build up and maintain high scientific and industrial values, the number of accepted submissions each month or the size of the backlog will be capped dynamically.

Roadmap:

  • 2020: Site Design and Reliability Testing; Pending ISSN Approval; CrossRef DOI Application
  • 2021 Onward: Accepting All Submissions; and After the First Issue, Finalizing ISSN from the Library of Congress