Reinforcement learning promises to learn the policy directly, skipping the forecast-then-optimize split, and it is a natural fit for sequential problems like optimal execution and market making where the environment can be simulated. Most of the archive’s RL papers instead train an agent on a single historical price series and report its backtest, which is the setting where RL is least defensible: one non-stationary trajectory, a reward that is a noisy function of a few hundred decisions, and a model with millions of parameters.
What to check when reading. Seeds and variance first: a credible paper trains many seeds and reports the distribution, not the best run. Then the environment: does the simulator model costs, latency, and the agent’s own impact, and was it fitted on the test period? Then the baseline: a tuned static rule (TWAP for execution, a Stoikov quote for market making, equal-weight for allocation) often matches the RL result. The guide on evaluating RL papers is a checklist for exactly this.
Time irreversibility in neuronal dynamics has recently been demonstrated to correlate with various indicators of cognitive effort in living systems. Using Landauer’s principle, which posits that time-irreversible information processing consumes energy, we establish a thermodynamically consistent mea
We consider an offline learning problem for an agent who first estimates an unknown price impact kernel from a static dataset, and then designs strategies to liquidate a risky asset while creating transient price impact. We propose a novel approach for a nonparametric estimation of the propagator fr
Financial portfolio management describes the task of distributing funds and conducting trading operations on a set of financial assets, such as stocks, index funds, foreign exchange or cryptocurrencies, aiming to maximize the profit while minimizing the loss incurred by said operations. Deep Learnin
Market making of options with different maturities and strikes is a challenging problem due to its highly dimensional nature. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that combines a stochastic policy and reinforcement learning-inspired techniques to determine the optimal policy for posting bid-as
The over-the-counter (OTC) market is characterized by a unique feature that allows market makers to adjust bid-ask spreads based on order size. However, this flexibility introduces complexity, transforming the market-making problem into a high-dimensional stochastic control problem that presents sig
This paper extends our previous work to continuous-time optimal stopping, focusing on American options in an exploratory setting. Our first contribution is an entropy-regularized penalization scheme, inspired by classical penalization techniques for reflected BSDEs. It yields a smooth approximation
Deep neural networks (DNNs) have transformed fields such as computer vision and natural language processing by employing architectures aligned with domain-specific structural patterns. In algorithmic trading, however, there remains a lack of architectures that directly incorporate the logic of tradi
This research proposes an enhancement to the innovative portfolio optimization approach using the G-Learning algorithm, combined with parametric optimization via the GIRL algorithm (G-learning approach to the setting of Inverse Reinforcement Learning) as presented by. The goal is to maximize portfol
We investigate the mechanisms by which medium-frequency trading agents are adversely selected by opportunistic high-frequency traders. We use reinforcement learning (RL) within a Hawkes Limit Order Book (LOB) model in order to replicate the behaviours of high-frequency market makers. In contrast to
The financial market is known to be highly sensitive to news. Therefore, effectively incorporating news data into quantitative trading remains an important challenge. Existing approaches typically rely on manually designed rules and/or handcrafted features. In this work, we directly use the news sen
We consider the multi-period portfolio optimization problem with a single asset that can be held long or short. Due to the presence of transaction costs, maximizing the immediate reward at each period may prove detrimental, as frequent trading results in consistent negative cash outflows. To simulat
We study liquidity provision in the presence of exogenous competition. We consider a reference market maker' who monitors her inventory and the aggregated inventory of the competing market makers. We assume that the competing market makers use a rule of thumb’ to determine their posted depths, dep
Combining model-based and model-free reinforcement learning approaches, this paper proposes and analyzes an $ε$-policy gradient algorithm for the online pricing learning task. The algorithm extends $ε$-greedy algorithm by replacing greedy exploitation with gradient descent step and facilitates learn
We propose and study the integration of sentiment analysis and deep reinforcement learning ensemble algorithms for stock trading by evaluating strategies capable of dynamically altering their active agent given the concurrent market environment. In particular, we design a simple-yet-effective method
We define and develop an approach for risk budgeting allocation - a risk diversification portfolio strategy - where risk is measured using a dynamic time-consistent risk measure. For this, we introduce a notion of dynamic risk contributions that generalise the classical Euler contributions and which
We study the problem of optimal portfolio selection under stochastic volatility within a continuous time reinforcement learning framework with portfolio constraints. Exploration is modeled through entropy-regularized relaxed controls, where the investor selects probability distributions over admissi
This paper bridges reinforcement learning (RL) and risk-sensitive stochastic control by introducing a tractable exploration mechanism for policy search in risk-sensitive portfolio management, with known and unknown model parameters, that yields an endogenous relative-entropy regularization. We const
Recent advances in continuous-time optimal stopping have been driven by entropy-regularized formulations of randomized stopping problems, with most existing approaches relying on partial differential equation methods. In this paper, we propose a fully probabilistic framework based on the Doob-Meyer-
The optimal asset allocation between risky and risk-free assets is a persistent challenge due to the inherent volatility in financial markets. Conventional methods rely on strict distributional assumptions or non-additive reward ratios, which limit their robustness and applicability to investment go
We examine the dynamics of informational efficiency in a market with asymmetrically informed, boundedly rational traders who adaptively learn optimal strategies using simple multiarmed bandit (MAB) algorithms. The strategies available to the traders have two dimensions: on the one hand, the traders
Investors and regulators can greatly benefit from a realistic market simulator that enables them to anticipate the consequences of their decisions in real markets. However, traditional rule-based market simulators often fall short in accurately capturing the dynamic behavior of market participants,
In finance, sequential decision problems are often faced, for which reinforcement learning (RL) emerges as a promising tool for optimisation without the need of analytical tractability. However, the objective of classical RL is the expected cumulated reward, while financial applications typically re
Financial portfolio management investment policies computed quantitatively by modern portfolio theory techniques like the Markowitz model rely on a set on assumptions that are not supported by data in high volatility markets. Hence, quantitative researchers are looking for alternative models to tack
We introduce and make publicly available the NIFTY Financial News Headlines dataset, designed to facilitate and advance research in financial market forecasting using large language models (LLMs). This dataset comprises two distinct versions tailored for different modeling approaches: (i) NIFTY-LM,
We propose an interactive robo-advising framework that learns personalized risk preferences from scores provided by clients. The resulting preference-learning problem is closely related to inverse reinforcement learning (IRL), as the robo-advisor infers the client’s latent reward specification from
We study the emergence of tacit collusion between adaptive trading agents in a stochastic market with endogenous price formation. Using a two-player repeated game between a market maker and a market taker, we characterize feasible and collusive strategy profiles that raise prices beyond competitive
Triangular arbitrage is a profitable trading strategy in financial markets that exploits discrepancies in currency exchange rates. Traditional methods for detecting triangular arbitrage opportunities, such as exhaustive search algorithms and linear programming solvers, often suffer from high computa
In recent years, there has been a growing trend of applying Reinforcement Learning (RL) in financial applications. This approach has shown great potential to solve decision-making tasks in finance. In this survey, we present a comprehensive study of the applications of RL in finance and conduct a se
We study the role of contextual information in the online learning problem of brokerage between traders. In this sequential problem, at each time step, two traders arrive with secret valuations about an asset they wish to trade. The learner (a broker) suggests a trading (or brokerage) price based on
We consider a version of the continuous-time multi-armed bandit problem where decision opportunities arrive at Poisson arrival times, and study its Gittins index policy. When driven by spectrally one-sided Lévy processes, the Gittins index can be written explicitly in terms of the scale function, an
We reinterpret and propose a framework for pricing path-dependent financial derivatives by estimating the full distribution of payoffs using Distributional Reinforcement Learning (DistRL). Unlike traditional methods that focus on expected option value, our approach models the entire conditional dist
This review systematically examines deep learning applications in financial asset management. Unlike prior reviews, this study focuses on identifying emerging trends, such as the integration of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) and deep reinforcement learning (DRL), and their transformative
Algorithmic trading or Financial robots have been conquering the stock markets with their ability to fathom complex statistical trading strategies. But with the recent development of deep learning technologies, these strategies are becoming impotent. The DQN and A2C models have previously outperform
Blackjack or “21” is a popular card-based game of chance and skill. The objective of the game is to win by obtaining a hand total higher than the dealer’s without exceeding 21. The ideal blackjack strategy will maximize financial return in the long run while avoiding gambler’s ruin. The stochastic e
Reinforcement learning (RL) is an innovative approach to financial decision making, offering specialized solutions to complex investment problems where traditional methods fail. This review analyzes 167 articles from 2017–2025, focusing on market making, portfolio optimization, and algorithmic tradi
We consider state of the art applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in modelling human financial expectations and explore the potential of quantum logic to drive future advancements in this field. This analysis highlights the application of machine learning techniques, including reinforcement
Reinforcement learning (RL) is a subfield of machine learning that has been used in many fields, such as robotics, gaming, and autonomous systems. There has been growing interest in using RL for quantitative trading, where the goal is to make trades that generate profits in financial markets. This p
The paper provides an overview of the theory and applications of risk-sensitive Markov decision processes. The term ‘risk-sensitive’ refers here to the use of the Optimized Certainty Equivalent as a means to measure expectation and risk. This comprises the well-known entropic risk measure and Condit
In this paper we pursue the question of a fully online trading algorithm (i.e. one that does not need offline training on previously gathered data). For this task we use Double Deep $Q$-learning in the episodic setting with Fast Learning Networks approximating the expected reward $Q$. Additionally,
The inherent volatility and dynamic fluctuations within the financial stock market underscore the necessity for investors to employ a comprehensive and reliable approach that integrates risk management strategies, market trends, and the movement trends of individual securities. By evaluating specifi
Building on our prior explorations of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for financial data processing, this paper introduces two significant enhancements to refine our CNN model’s predictive performance and robustness for financial tabular data. Firstly, we integrate a normalization layer at the
Applications of Reinforcement Learning in the Finance Technology (Fintech) have acquired a lot of admiration lately. Undoubtedly Reinforcement Learning, through its vast competence and proficiency, has aided remarkable results in the field of Fintech. The objective of this systematic survey is to pe
Domain-specific quantitative reasoning remains a major challenge for large language models (LLMs), especially in fields requiring expert knowledge and complex question answering (QA). In this work, we propose Expert Question Decomposition (EQD), an approach designed to balance the use of domain know
The outlook for the future of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial sector, especially in financial forecasting, the challenges and implications. The dynamics of AI technology, including deep learning, reinforcement learning, and integration with blockchAIn and the Internet of Things, also h
Quantum machine learning has the potential for a transformative impact across industry sectors and in particular in finance. In our work we look at the problem of hedging where deep reinforcement learning offers a powerful framework for real markets. We develop quantum reinforcement learning methods