What Can You Actually Do with Python in Finance?
Forget the hype—here’s a practical list of what Python can help finance pros build, fix, and automate.
Hey friends,
Let’s get practical this week.
Python is everywhere. Every other LinkedIn post screams, “Finance pros need to learn Python!” but rarely explains why—or what you’re supposed to do once you’ve learned it.
So let’s talk about what Python is actually good for in finance.
Not in theory. Not in a dream. In real, day-to-day Indian finance workflows.
What I Use Python For (Almost Daily)
Here’s a short list of things I (and a growing number of others) use Python to do:
1. Pulling Market Data Automatically
No more downloading CSVs from NSE or Moneycontrol and reformatting 12 columns by hand.
With just a few lines of code, Python can:
Grab historical stock data
Fetch live prices
Clean and structure it
Schedule it to run daily
It’s like having your own data intern, but cheaper and doesn’t get bored.
2. Analyzing Trends
Python makes financial analysis more scalable. You can:
Calculate moving averages, volatility, RSI, etc.
Build multi-stock comparisons
Create visual dashboards
Spot trends across sectors
It beats flipping between 17 Excel tabs and “managing” charts like a caveman.
3. Automating FP&A Tasks
Python isn’t just for markets—it’s gold for forecasting and corporate finance:
Automate revenue forecasts
Run what-if scenarios
Clean and consolidate inputs
Create Excel or PDF reports automatically
This stuff saves hours in budget season.
4. Backtesting Trading Strategies
You can actually test ideas, instead of just hoping they work:
Simulate trades using historical data
Compare strategies
Visualize drawdowns, returns, and volatility
Run optimizations
No brokerage account needed to experiment.
5. Building Your Own Tools
This is the real magic. Once you understand Python, you can:
Build a web dashboard (Streamlit is amazing)
Create bots to alert you to financial events
Connect APIs (Zerodha, CDSL, even OpenAI)
Build scrapers and automate data pulls
You go from finance user to finance builder.
Do You Need to Be a Genius?
Nope.
Most of what I just described can be done with:
Basic Python
A few libraries (pandas, matplotlib, yfinance, etc.)
Copy-pasting working code
Some logic and curiosity
You don’t need to be a machine learning wizard. You just need to start.
Coming Next Week:
I’ll walk you through a real Python script I use to forecast company revenue using public data. We’ll go step-by-step.
You’ll see how it works. You’ll get the notebook. You’ll be able to customize it.
Until then, ask yourself:
What’s one repetitive task I do every week that could be done with a 10-line script?
That’s where your Python journey begins.