Apollo

We're here to take your finances to the moon! Using beta values, customer risk aversion analysis, and required rates of returns, we build ideal portfolios for a variety of clients.

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Inspiration

We were inspired by a vision to make investing easily accessible to all, regardless of income or past investing experience. That's why we set out to create a platform that incorporates a variety of financial principles (such as beta values and required returns) with the understanding that the needs of our clients vary greatly based off of their respective situations.

What it does

Our platform utilizes strong form efficiency to calculate beta values and expected returns of a variety of stocks. Then, utilizing a survey, we discern an individual's risk preference and advise them accordingly, taking into account the volatility of a stock (beta value) against its expected return (using inflation as the risk-free rate and the S&P's average over the past 5 years as the market rate of return). On the front end, we provide the customer with clear and concise advice on which stocks would be the best investments for them.

How we built it

We built the backend using Python, yFinance, Github, Excel, and Tableau. We use Python in combination with yFinance to parse historical stock data and calculate beta values and expected returns. We then compare this against inflation and the S&P 500 (whose data is also gathered from yFinance) to calculate estimated returns utilizing strong-form efficiency. We take this data across a multitude of stocks and format it into an xlsx file. We then create graphic interpretations of this data utilizing Tableau for easy visualization.

We built our front end using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Our front end is a responsive and dynamic website that is both easy to navigate and visually appealing. Our website gathers information about a client, creates a profile, and then offers them tailored investing advice. In the final stage, it pulls from our backend work to display customized recommendations and crisp visuals that our users can easily incorporate into their investment strategies.

Challenges and Growth

Our biggest challenge was trying to call static Python files from our JavaScript file. We tried utilizing Ajax and debated translating all of our code to JavaScript, but eventually settled on using the Python to create static resources that our JavaScript program could then render.

Of course, our soft skills were also put to the test. Operating against such an aggressive timeline, we were naturally subject to large amounts of stress and anxiety. Thankfully, we were able to avoid conflict by mitigating crises, communicating effectively, and fostering collaboration throughout the night. We are proud to say that our soft skills - communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and time management - enabled us to overcome all of the challenges that came our way, further cementing our mutual interdependence and ability to work together.

What's next for Apollo

Given more time and resources, we would like to develop Apollo into a full fledged and fully operating platform available to clients. We believe that we could make investing easier for the average individual, benefiting both the firms hosting our software and those using it to make enlightened investment decisions.

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