Mikhail Ipatov

Mikhail Ipatov is a quantitative researcher at Pinely, a proprietary high-frequency trading firm, based in Amsterdam. He represented Russia at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) in 2015 and competes as Codeforces International Grandmaster 'LHiC'. He studied mathematics at Moscow State University and computer science at the Yandex School of Data Analysis, then completed the joint New Economic School / SHAD 'Economics and Data Analysis' program (2023). He worked at WorldQuant (quantitative research intern, then quantitative researcher, 2021-2024) before joining Pinely in early 2024.

Notes5

• Quant employment verification: CONFIRMED. Mikhail Ipatov has documented actual employment at two quantitative trading firms. Employer 1 - WorldQuant: the NES alumni interview (published by New Economic School) records that he worked at WorldQuant while studying, developing 'alphas' (predictive signals) on an internal research platform; WorldQuant is an established quantitative asset manager. Employer 2 - Pinely: he states in the same interview that he moved to Pinely, which he describes as high-frequency trading and where he works on strategies; pinely.com self-describes as a proprietary algorithmic/HFT trading firm ('algorithmic trading firm ... proprietary trading firm'), i.e. an actual quantitative trading employer rather than a merely 'quant'-named company. The LinkedIn role record (Quantitative Research Intern, WorldQuant, 2021-08 to 2021-09; Quantitative Researcher, WorldQuant, 2021-12 to 2024-01; Quantitative Researcher, Pinely, 2024-02 to present) is index-only (ClickHouse aggregate) and its exact dates are not independently confirmed here, but the existence and quantitative nature of both roles is corroborated by the interview and by the employer's own self-description. Identity is supported: the IOI 2015 Russia contestant Mikhail Ipatov is linked to Codeforces handle LHiC (International Grandmaster) and to LinkedIn /in/ipatovmm, and the interview is with that same individual. The Yandex Software Engineer Intern role (2019, index-only) is a software role, not quantitative finance. No bank, asset-manager, crypto or energy-trading quant role was found beyond the above.Sep 17, 2026
• Identity confirmed: the IOI 2015 Russian contestant Mikhail Ipatov is the same person as the LinkedIn /in/ipatovmm Quantitative Researcher at Pinely; Codeforces profile LHiC (International Grandmaster) links handle to 'Mikhail Ipatov, Moscow, Russia' and lists organization pinely, and the IOI stats profile links LHiC.Sep 17, 2026
• In the NES interview he says his WorldQuant work involved developing 'alphas' (predictive signals) on an internal research platform, that he worked there part-time for an extended period while studying, and that he later moved to Pinely, which he describes as high-frequency trading, where he works on strategies rather than low-latency technical code.Jan 1, 2023
• Pinely (pinely.com) self-describes as a proprietary algorithmic/HFT trading firm, privately owned and funded, with firms and offices in Singapore, Cyprus and the Netherlands - an actual quantitative trading employer, not merely a 'quant'-named company.Sep 17, 2026
• NES alumni interview (EDS graduate, 2023) states he entered Yandex School of Data Analysis (SHAD), moved after year one to the joint NES/SHAD 'Economics and Data Analysis' program, began working at WorldQuant while still studying, and later moved to Pinely.Jan 1, 2023
• IOI 2015: represented Russia (contestant); the IOI statistics profile lists 2015 contest entry and links his Codeforces (LHiC) and TopCoder (lhic) accounts.Aug 1, 2015
• CPHOF profile (TopCoder:lhic) lists career prize money of ~$36,677 across major individual competitions including TopCoder Open Algorithm (2020, top-16), Google Code Jam (2017, 2018, 2020) and Facebook Hacker Cup.Sep 17, 2026