AI agents trade on exchanges for private investors

WSJ describes the spread of 'agentic trading' in the US: private investors connect AI agents Claude and Codex to brokerage accounts at Robinhood, Webull, Moomoo, and Public, and the agents buy and sell stocks and options on their own based on simple text instructions.

Compiled by Sergey KostenchukPublished 2026-09-07Updated 2026-09-18

2026-09-07 Business Anthropic

💼 AI agents trade on exchanges for private investors

WSJ describes 'agentic trading': private investors connect Claude and Codex to accounts at Robinhood, Webull, Moomoo, and Public, where the agents buy and sell stocks and options on their own. 19-year-old Dean Arens reported that a Codex agent on Public grew an account from $3,000 to $8,000 in a few months.

🌍 Brokers are making AI agents a new layer of trade execution: Moomoo launched agentic trading in April 2026 and expects agents to account for about 20% of trading volume by the end of the year.

👤 Success figures are self-reported without audit, and an NBER working paper shows: AI strategies build portfolios of overvalued stocks and do not beat passive benchmarks. It is worth risking only amounts you can afford to lose.

Source 1: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/the-ai-shift-turning-everyday-investors-into-mini-quant-funds-ebe4d45f Source 2: https://nationalrevealed.com/2026/09/the-ai-shift-turning-everyday-investors-into-mini-quant-funds/

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