Sell Reuters Shares, Based On This Story

from the automatic-for-the-people dept

Automated, computer-based stock trading has been on the rise for some time. Yet, ultimately, most of the difficult decisions and analysis must be made by humans. For example, trading based on a major event (a merger rumor, or a quarterly report) can't be initiated by a computer. Reuters is hoping to change that with a new service that will put machine-readable tags on stories, so that computers can do trades based on events. The success of this will come down to two things. First, Reuters has to do a good job meaningfully portraying the gist of the story in a few tags. And second, humans will still have to write the algorithms that interpret the information and act on it. Overall, it's been slow going in terms of using computers to gather and collect financial data. XBRL, a language for letting computers interpret SEC reports is always being touted as the next big thing; it's now in its 14th year of being the next big thing. So while we may be able to automate some tasks, there's little prospect for removing humans from finance entirely. Now, just imagine the feedback loop we might see if computers started reacting to financial articles written by other computers.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Bumbling old fool, 12 Dec 2006 @ 9:43am

    context error

    For example, trading based on a major event (a merger rumor, or a quarterly report) can't be initiated by people.

    From the sdrawkcab department?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    brad, 12 Dec 2006 @ 10:00am

    So glad someone else caught that before me.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Sanguine Dream, 12 Dec 2006 @ 10:42am

    Oh dear...

    These machine readable tags... I'm sure I'm not the only one that is thinking about the possibility of forging these tags.

    Its bad enough these days that we have people buying stock based on spam but if it all becomes automated then who will be there to monitor the legitimacy of the tags?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      The infamous Joe, 12 Dec 2006 @ 10:50am

      Re: Oh dear...

      Oh, I agree wholeheartedly! In the middle of reading the post I thought to myself that this was just BEGGING to be abused.

      I, personally, can't wait.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 12 Dec 2006 @ 11:00am

    Scary

    This actually scares me. I'm no finance person, but doesn't this lead to the possibility of these machines reacting to an event which in turn causes an event that machines react to and so on into a downward feedback loop that crashes the market? I know there are protections against such things, but I would be hesitant to allow a machine free reign on the market.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    SPR, 12 Dec 2006 @ 11:08am

    The really scary part is that there are those in positions of power who put total faith in computers. Basically, if the computer tells them one thing and you tell them something different, you have to be wrong. There are some things that you cannot depend on a computer for, like this. You have to have a human making the final decision.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Beefcake, 12 Dec 2006 @ 11:31am

    Rise of the Machines

    I think they should call it Skynet.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Matt Bennett, 12 Dec 2006 @ 11:47am

    Look, Finance has enough stupid feedback loops just based on people being stupid, stupid programs ain't gonna make it better.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Overcast, 12 Dec 2006 @ 12:32pm

    LOL, so the execs at Reuter's can play games with where others are investing to make them more money?

    /snicker

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Solo, 12 Dec 2006 @ 2:09pm

    If your 'machine investment system' relies on tags rather than on humans to do the decision, you are just shifting the human factor to the 'taggers' and removing it from the investment side.

    Now the burden is on the story writer. Same difference.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Stu, 12 Dec 2006 @ 7:11pm

    Overcast has it right.

    Reuters goal is to make money for Reuters - like stockbrokers do. Whether you buy or sell, win or lose, your broker makes the same commission.

    Reminds me of the fishing lure business. The moment you buy the lure, the product has fulfilled its primary purpose. Catching a fish is a secondary purpose.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.