I would be surprised if rentech's profits are based purely on algorithmic advantages. More likely, IMO, is they've curated some really good sources of alternative data and combined it with otherwise standard mathematical and technical trading techniques. They’ve probably also got a well-engineered pipeline for identifying that data, systematically evaluating it, and bringing it to production.

This is of course pure speculation. But I doubt all that alpha would come from mathematical differences alone. The market isn’t magic... it’s just a question of having access to the right information and the ability to capitalize on it.