With the amount of data available growing astronomically, hedge funds continue to search for the most efficient way to filter through it all to gain an edge, all while industry margins shrink as fees drop and outflows continue. Open-source platforms such as QuantConnect and Quantopian are now offering hedge funds data analysis on the cheap, either through investing in a fund or licensing a freelancer's work. Managers who have been notoriously secretive must now decide if they want to open up their processes to freelancers online. For more stories like this, visit Business Insider's homepage.