Hey Quant X Tribe,
Last week, Block announced it would cut about 4,000 jobs — nearly half its workforce.
Not because the company is struggling.
But because AI can now handle a growing share of the work.
Jack Dorsey wrote in his letter:
“I think most companies are late… and many will make similar structural changes.”
In other words:
This is not an isolated decision.
It may be the first wave of a broader structural shift.
When Cost Structures Change, Markets Reprice
When companies adopt AI at scale, two opposing forces appear.
First: Corporate margins improve.
Automation lowers operating costs.
For companies, this is positive.
Productivity rises. Profitability improves.
—
Second: Labour displacement increases.
If enough companies adopt AI simultaneously, the labour market can weaken.
That affects:
• consumer spending
• economic stability
• political pressure
The market then has to price two forces moving in opposite directions.
Higher productivity.
But potentially weaker demand.
Structural Shifts Increase Market Volatility
Markets struggle most when structural changes collide with external shocks.
Today we are already seeing:
• geopolitical conflicts expanding
• oil prices reacting to supply disruptions
• interest rates remaining sensitive to inflation
Add technological disruption into that mix, and the result is often:
higher volatility regimes.
Why Quant Strategies Matter In These Environments
When volatility regimes shift, discretionary trading often becomes harder.
Because human intuition tends to react to headlines.
Quant strategies instead look at:
• statistical relationships
• volatility patterns
• regime behaviour
They adapt based on data rather than opinion.
The Barrier That Used To Exist
For years, one thing stopped most traders from learning quant investing.
Coding.
You had to write models from scratch.
Today, that barrier is disappearing.
AI can now assist with building, testing, and refining trading strategies.
Which means the real edge is no longer coding.
The edge is thinking like a quant.
If You Want To See How This Works
We’ll be walking through these ideas in the upcoming Quant X Accelerator.
Including:
• how quant traders structure strategies
• how data is used to validate ideas
• how AI can assist in building models
We’ll see you there.
To your growth,
Quant X Team
Where Data Becomes Alpha
Editor: Dareen Tan
Disclaimer:
The views shared here are for educational purposes only and reflect our team’s opinions. They should not be taken as financial, investment, or legal advice. Please do your own due diligence before making any financial decisions.
