Autonomous Trading Demands Verifiable Controls as AI Agents Enter Live Markets
The line between autonomous decision-making and automated execution is vanishing in financial markets. AI systems now actively manage portfolios, execute trades, and interpret regulatory filings—operating beyond theoretical sandboxes with direct access to client assets. This leap in efficiency carries systemic risks that existing governance frameworks fail to address.
Regulators including the Financial Stability Board and IOSCO warn that opaque AI behavior, market clustering, and interconnected dependencies could amplify volatility. Current disclaimers about liability prove inadequate when algorithms control fund flows or price discovery. The industry must engineer accountability through Immutable audit trails, verified data inputs, and ethically constrained code—making compliance mathematically provable rather than rhetorically asserted.
