diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 23df7e87..4d70f7d6 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -20,8 +20,10 @@ install:
   - source activate testenv
   - conda install --yes -c https://conda.binstar.org/Quantopian numpy=$NUMPY_VERSION pandas=$PANDAS_VERSION scipy==$SCIPY_VERSION matplotlib Cython patsy statsmodels tornado pyparsing xlrd mock pytz requests six dateutil ta-lib logbook
   - pip install --upgrade pip coverage
-  - pip install -e .[dev]
+  - pip install -r etc/requirements.txt
+  - pip install -r etc/requirements_dev.txt
   - pip install -r etc/requirements_blaze.txt
+  - python setup.py build_ext --inplace
 before_script:
   - pip freeze | sort
   - "flake8 zipline tests"
diff --git a/docs/source/whatsnew/0.8.4.txt b/docs/source/whatsnew/0.8.4.txt
index fb2a12dd..92d721ce 100644
--- a/docs/source/whatsnew/0.8.4.txt
+++ b/docs/source/whatsnew/0.8.4.txt
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ None
 Build
 ~~~~~
 
-None
+* Makes zipline install requirements more flexible (:issue:`825`).
 
 Documentation
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 2015fdb3..7c6db032 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -118,21 +118,48 @@ def _filter_requirements(lines_iter):
             yield requirement
 
 
-def read_requirements(path):
+REQ_UPPER_BOUNDS = {
+}
+
+
+def _with_bounds(req):
+    try:
+        req, lower = req.split('==')
+    except ValueError:
+        return req
+    else:
+        with_bounds = [req, '>=', lower]
+        upper = REQ_UPPER_BOUNDS.get(req)
+        if upper:
+            with_bounds.extend([',', upper])
+        return ''.join(with_bounds)
+
+
+def read_requirements(path, strict_bounds):
     """
     Read a requirements.txt file, expressed as a path relative to Zipline root.
+
+    Returns requirements with the pinned versions as lower bounds
+    if `strict_bounds` is falsey.
     """
     real_path = join(dirname(abspath(__file__)), path)
     with open(real_path) as f:
-        return list(_filter_requirements(f.readlines()))
+        reqs = _filter_requirements(f.readlines())
+
+        if strict_bounds:
+            return list(reqs)
+        else:
+            return list(map(_with_bounds, reqs))
 
 
-def install_requires():
-    return read_requirements('etc/requirements.txt')
+def install_requires(strict_bounds=False):
+    return read_requirements('etc/requirements.txt',
+                             strict_bounds=strict_bounds)
 
 
 def extras_requires():
-    dev_reqs = read_requirements('etc/requirements_dev.txt')
+    dev_reqs = read_requirements('etc/requirements_dev.txt',
+                                 strict_bounds=True)
     talib_reqs = ['TA-Lib==0.4.9']
     return {
         'dev': dev_reqs,
@@ -146,7 +173,7 @@ def module_requirements(requirements_path, module_names):
     found = set()
     module_lines = []
     parser = re.compile("([^=<>]+)([<=>]{1,2})(.*)")
-    for line in read_requirements(requirements_path):
+    for line in read_requirements(requirements_path, strict_bounds=False):
         match = parser.match(line)
         if match is None:
             raise AssertionError("Could not parse requirement: '%s'" % line)