Using quant knowladge for personal profit? (noob question)

[TrampGuy]

So I was wondering, there is literally tons of material online regarding qa, how to become a quant, what quants do, what to learn and so on and so on... but I couldn't seem to find almost anything regarding the possibility of using all that mathematical and programming knowledge for personal use/trading. Actually, the only thing I did find was a forum post from these forums https://www.quantnet.com/threads/an...lgorithms-that-make-consistent-profits.14852/ - which kind of answered the question but not fully.
So, is it possible to utilize qa knowledge to make better/safer trading calls?
If so, why don't more quants do it? (according to that other forum post at least)
Could acquiring that knowledge on your own give you some trading edge?

Obviously I know nothing of economics and even less of qa, which is why I find it so difficult to even ask this question properly, but I'm sure there are many people out there wondering the same thing.

 

[yetanotherquant]

So, is it possible to utilize qa knowledge to make better/safer trading calls?

Speaking for myself, the answer is positive: Somewhat better than DUCKS

I do not run 100% quantitative trading, moreover, I devote much more time to reading news and annual reports than to number crunching.
However, due to my scrutiny of the Kelly criterion (Kelly Criterion for Multivariate Portfolios: A Model-Free Approach by Vasily Nekrasov :: SSRN) the money management is embedded in my blood and flesh. And the money management is likely the most important aspect (and the quantitative methods are most applicable here).
Just one example: recently I had a bad luck with VW stock. Still, due tothe MM discipline my losses were just about 3% of the portfolio (which though painful but not critical, compared to 30% of return that I made before). Were I more greedy/aggressive, I could have lost much more.

I describe my trading philosophy, which blends the quantitative approach with common sense, in my book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/3000465200/