A quant, short for quantitative person or analyst, is common Wall Street parlance for someone with expertise in complex mathematical and statistical methods. A quant usually holds a Ph.D. in the sciences, such as engineering, physics, mathematics or statistics, and often has had a prior career in academia. Most quants are hired to support securities traders by creating detailed mathematical models to value complex securities and set trading strategies, including so-called program trading. Quants also can be key players in the design of new securities, and in the development of mathematical models that screen investment opportunites for money managers.
Sometimes the term quant can have negative connotations, suggesting an ivory tower intellectual, overly-theoretical and with insufficient practical business sense.
