By QuantInsti
For more than 25 years, Edwin Lima has worked in the world of data.
As an independent data engineering consultant, he has built systems and solved technical problems for major airlines, banks such as Amro and Rabobank, government institutions, and currently, Rotterdam City Hall. With a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence and a computer science foundation that goes back to 1997, Edwin’s technical depth was never in doubt.
But when it came to trading, he felt something was missing.
“I was not doing it right… the way I was doing it was more like a guesswork. It was not a structured way of doing it, and a thoughtful way of doing it.”
Like many professionals, he initially approached trading as a side pursuit. The goal was simple: learn the markets, make better decisions, and create another source of income. But over time, the absence of structure began to bother him.
What started as curiosity became discomfort. And that discomfort eventually became a decision.
He needed formal education.
Why Trading Needed Structure
Edwin’s interest in markets was not new. In fact, it went back to his academic work.
His master’s thesis focused on predicting cryptocurrency trading positions using reinforcement learning. He built the project before ever placing a trade himself.
“I did this project without having made a trade ever in my life. Never. I did it blindly.”
At the time, he approached the problem like a data engineer and AI practitioner. He worked with OHLC data and applied reinforcement learning methods that are often used in robotics and decision systems. The backtest results looked promising.
But backtests and real markets are not the same thing.
That gap became impossible to ignore. Edwin realized that while he had the technical tools to model trading ideas, he did not yet have the professional understanding of how markets truly function. He needed more than code and academic experimentation. He needed context, structure, and a proper framework.
Why He Chose EPAT
When Edwin began researching programmes, he was clear about what he was not looking for.
“I also didn't want to join a program that offers to make you rich because I don't think that can be true.”
He was not interested in shortcuts or exaggerated promises. He wanted to understand how trading works professionally, not as retail speculation dressed up in marketing language.
That is what made EPAT stand out.
He found the programme online and was drawn to the way it positioned trading as a professional discipline. For him, the appeal was not just in learning strategies, but in learning how markets operate through an institutional lens.
“EPAT was a professional path… and I understood that you are not giving a training for trading, but this is for corporate, right? Which is very, very interesting.”
This distinction mattered deeply to him. It suggested that the programme would go beyond charts and indicators, and into the mechanics of risk, execution, liquidity, infrastructure, and market behavior at scale.
“This was a completely different world for me… a world that I didn’t know existed.”
The pricing was competitive compared to alternatives, but that was not the main reason he enrolled. What really convinced him was that the programme did not sell dreams. It offered structure, depth, and seriousness.
The EPAT Experience
For Edwin, the challenge of EPAT was not intellectual difficulty. He could follow the ideas and keep up with the lectures. The real challenge was the sheer breadth of the curriculum.
In just six months, the programme covered statistics, economics, microeconomics, probabilities, market microstructure, time series analysis, Python, backtesting, risk management, machine learning, reinforcement learning, and NLP.
It was not any one topic that tested him. It was the volume, the intensity, and the persistence required to keep going while working full-time.
To prepare for the final exam, Edwin studied from 9 PM until 2 or 3 in the morning for nearly a month.
“I think you guys are not testing whether someone knows the matter… but whether someone is resilient enough to hold up.”
That line captures an important truth about the experience. EPAT did not just deepen his knowledge. It demanded consistency, discipline, and commitment.
And it paid off.
Somewhere along the way, Edwin began to see markets differently. He started to understand what corporate trading really means, how large participants execute, how liquidity matters, how risk is controlled, and how institutions operate behind the scenes.
“That was actually very nice… to learn how corporate trading works.”
One of the biggest shifts came from understanding that market prices are not simply drifting on abstract theory.
That realization pushed him beyond surface-level indicator thinking. It made him ask deeper questions about structure, liquidity, flows, and regime changes. It brought him closer to the way professional traders and quants think.
Just as importantly, he felt supported by the faculty guiding him through the process.
“The teachers are amazing. All five stars teachers.”
How EPAT Changed His Thinking
One of the clearest signs of Edwin’s transformation is how he now reflects on his earlier academic work.
When asked what he would change about his master’s thesis today, his answer was revealing. He would engineer features differently. He would avoid curve smoothing. He would benchmark more carefully. He would focus on predicting positions rather than prices. He would respect non-stationarity. He would evaluate performance more thoughtfully.
That is not a small adjustment. It is a complete shift in mindset.
Before, he was thinking like a skilled data scientist applying AI techniques to market data. After EPAT, he began thinking more like a quant, someone who understands that models must live inside the realities of market structure, execution, and regime change.
This is where the programme made its deepest impact. It did not just give him more tools. It changed how he framed the problem.
Life After EPAT
After completing the programme, Edwin took a short break from the intensity of studying. But he did not stop building.
Even while continuing in his full-time consulting role, he is steadily working toward a larger goal. His evenings are no longer filled with coursework. They are now focused on designing and refining trading strategies.
Today, he is building a system based on market structure rather than relying purely on indicators. His process involves identifying regime changes, assessing context, waiting for confirmation, entering trades based on structured hypotheses, and exiting when those hypotheses no longer hold.
“I’m not predicting prices. I’m looking at the market structure.”
This is a very different approach from informal retail trading. It is slower, more deliberate, and rooted in validation.
He is testing across different granularities. He is thinking in terms of context and confirmation. Risk management is part of the system, not something added later. What he is building is not a collection of guesses. It is an engineered process.
And that might be the best way to describe what changed.
This is no longer guessing. This is engineering.
His Long-Term Vision
Edwin is clear about what he wants in the long run.
“I really would like to trade as a living.”
While he continues to do well in his professional consulting career, his long-term goal is to transition into trading full-time if his strategies continue to mature and perform consistently.
For him, trading is not just financially attractive. It is intellectually satisfying.
“You do work, it’s challenging, and at the end of the day you say okay I have made some bucks… I find it really very nice.”
He even imagines one day working alongside institutional traders at a professional trading desk. The difference now is that he understands what that world actually looks like. It is no longer a vague ambition. It is a concrete path shaped by structure, knowledge, and experience.
For Edwin, EPAT replaced guesswork with professional context. It replaced informal experimentation with a disciplined framework. And while his journey is still unfolding, he is now moving forward with far more clarity and confidence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Can someone with a technical background still benefit from formal trading education?
Yes. Edwin already had deep technical expertise in data engineering and AI, but EPAT helped him develop a professional understanding of markets, execution, risk, and institutional trading dynamics.
Q. What kind of learner is EPAT suitable for?
EPAT is well suited for learners who want more than surface-level trading education. It is especially valuable for those looking for a structured, professional, and rigorous approach to algorithmic and quantitative trading.
Q. Was the biggest challenge for Edwin the difficulty of the concepts?
Not exactly. For Edwin, the challenge was more about the breadth and intensity of the curriculum rather than not being able to understand the concepts themselves.
Q. How did EPAT change Edwin’s view of trading?
It shifted his mindset from casual, indicator-based speculation to structured thinking around market mechanics, liquidity, regime shifts, risk, and validation.
Q. Is EPAT only useful for people who want to join a trading desk?
No. It can also help professionals who want to build their own systematic trading processes independently, as Edwin is doing while continuing his consulting career.
Q. What is one major takeaway from Edwin’s journey?
That trading knowledge is not just about models or code. It is about context, structure, resilience, and learning how markets actually function.
Next Steps
If you come from a technical, finance, or non-trading background and want to approach the markets more seriously, Edwin’s story is a strong reminder that skill in one domain does not automatically translate into trading clarity. What often makes the difference is structured learning.A programme like EPAT can help bridge that gap by combining quantitative methods, market understanding, risk frameworks, and practical implementation in one guided journey.
Schedule an EPAT counselling call
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