Are AIs better than humans in the trading world, where everything moves quickly? This is now a matter of great discussion as AI and trading automation become increasingly widespread.
The financial industry, including major banks such as Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, and Royal Bank of Canada, made a $35-billion bet on AI in 2023.
Indeed, the JPMorgan study also found that AI-driven strategies often beat human traders, particularly in high-frequency trading. Though there is still a considerable element of human intuition and experience as part of trading, there is no question that AI has been able to do so faster and more accurately.
This shift raises the question of how much more quickly AI will lose money than humans. Now, let’s take a closer look at this growing battle of human craftsmanship vs. AI-speed-in-decisioning.
AI Stock Trading vs. Human Stock Trading: Key Differences
When we look at AI and trading automation compared to human stock trading, the differences are significant. AI can trade multiple markets at once, maintaining discipline without being affected by emotions. In contrast, human traders face challenges like emotional stress and the inability to monitor the market constantly. Let’s take a brief overview of this difference:
1. Involvement of Human Emotions
One of the biggest benefits of AI and trading automation systems like “Immediate Edge” is the removal of human emotions. Automated systems, meanwhile, can use data and algorithms to automatically make trades—a trait that makes them more disciplined about losses.
For example:
If a person loses one trade, he may feel let down and out (depression or anxiety), and that might prevent him from taking the next trade—where maybe there was a winning one. Fear, greed, and frustration can lead to overtrading, breaking the rules, and revenge trading (where traders impulsively trade to recover losses).
This emotional barrier is one of the primary reasons why many human traders struggle to succeed consistently.
2. Following Trading Rules
AI systems adhere strictly to trading rules defined by traders and investors. They make decisions based on indicators and price movements without deviating from established guidelines.
For instance:
If the strategy requires buying a stock when it drops by 5%, the AI will do it automatically. Human traders, however, may break these rules due to fear or greed, taking random trades outside their plan, which often leads to losses. This rule-breaking tendency can undermine their overall trading performance.
AI, by contrast, always sticks to the script, resulting in more consistent performance over time
3. Ability to Take Consistent Trades
One of the biggest advantages of AI and trade automation is being able to run full-time market surveillance. AIs are not humans and do not sleep or observe market conditions only within a specific time range. This constant vigilance allows automated systems to seize profitable opportunities that human traders might miss.
For example:
AI trading software can track price changes in real-time across various assets. This consistent trading enables AI to capture small price movements, which can add up to significant profits over time.
4. Ability to Monitor Multiple Markets
There are many tradable assets (stocks, forex, cryptos, etc.), and tracking multiple markets at the same time is crucial to finding valuable opportunities. Human traders cannot monitor every movement in the market, causing them to miss out on opportunities.
For example:
While a human trader may only be able to concentrate on one asset during market volatility, an AI can perform its analysis across multiple markets simultaneously — offering fresh eyes and broader opportunities for profit.
The differences between these approaches form an essential lesson as traders strive to understand a fast-growing, automated world.
Case Studies
The performance differences between AI-powered trading systems and humans have been studied widely. These case studies offer valuable examples of how AI can improve trading. Below are some key examples:
-
Quantitative Analysis
A financial research firm conducted a study comparing AI-powered trading algorithms with human traders managing a diversified stock portfolio over a year. The AI algorithms used machine learning to analyze data and execute trades, outperforming human traders in risk-adjusted returns and consistency.
This study demonstrated that AI could efficiently identify profitable opportunities and execute trades more precisely.
-
High-Frequency Trading (HFT)
In another study focused on HFT strategies, researchers compared AI systems with human traders in capturing short-term market inefficiencies. AI algorithms used advanced mathematical models to exploit micro-level price movements, while human traders tried to identify these opportunities manually.
The results showed that AI consistently outperformed humans in profitability and execution speed, highlighting its advantages in real-time data processing.
-
Sentiment Analysis
A hedge fund conducted a case study testing AI-driven sentiment analysis with a human-analyst-based approach for predicting stock price movements using social media data. The AI used large amounts of online data to determine investor sentiment, showing much higher returns than human analysts.
This demonstrates an AI’s ability to easily locate changes in sentiment and market direction, making smarter trading decisions.
-
Portfolio Management
Researchers compared AI robo-advisors to human financial advisors who manage investment portfolios. Using machine learning, the AI systems optimized portfolios of risk preferences and market conditions each period, outperforming human advisors in returns and risk management.
This underscores how AI can enhance investment outcomes by efficiently reallocating assets.
The Synergy of AI and Human Trading
Based on AI and trading automation, it is evident that both have some pros and cons in the financial markets. AI can process information faster, sort through much more data than a human ever could, and trade without any emotional influence. When it comes to human traders, they offer intuition, adaptability, and experiences—traits any algorithm has yet to work successfully within unpredictable scenarios such as markets.
However, in terms of who loses money faster, it often seems that human traders take the lead. Their emotional responses and cognitive biases can cause them to make hasty decisions, leading to quicker losses. In contrast, AI relies on logic and data, which helps it avoid these emotional pitfalls.
In the end, regardless of whether you are rooting for AI or have faith in human traders, one takeaway is obvious: remaining informed and level-headed with a willingness to adjust wherever necessary is vital in the rapidly changing financial space. This helps traders make better decisions and play the market more effectively by leveraging what both AI and human strength bring to the table.
