Inspiration
We see an uptick nowadays exposing problems in the finance industry, where platforms like Robinhood ban users from trading to protect the interests of large finance organizations, and wanted to approach the market differently, creating an index of the market that prioritizes individual traders.
What it does
An algorithm that calculates an index fund based on users who participate and weighing them in to determine what the fund is composed of. Users that perform well will be weighted higher than others and have a larger influence in what stocks are a part of the fund, creating a system that should result in the fund consistently improving itself.
How we built it
We developed an algorithm in Python that takes users and the stocks in their portfolio and calculates how large a weighting should be assigned to them when adding their contributions to an overall index fund. It then adds all the users' portfolios and their weightings and creates an overall index fund, composed of stocks chosen by the users. We used publicly avaliable stock information datasets as a proof of concept, and created a database schema to later use to integrate actual users.
Challenges we ran into
Due to the complexity of developing an extensive frontend using the MERN stack and the many features that needed to be implemented, we didn't have time to create a frontend to host our algorithm and allow users to sign up. Therefore, we decided to focus on the backend first and create mockups for the frontend for later implementation.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We're proud of creating an idea that we think would actually interest a significant number of people, as well as creating a mathematically challenging algorithm which is the backbone of our idea and concept.
What we learned
We learnt a lot about both working with large datasets in Python as well as frontend development using MERN through the hacking and problem solving process.
What's next for Stock Flock
Our next step is to continue our work in developing the frontend which we already designed, and eventually allow actual users to use the platform so our algorithm can be tested on actual data, which we can use to create a real index that people can reference and participate in.
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