Financial Trading

Examining Human Factors Issues in Automated Financial Trading

Duration: July 2013 - December 2017

This is an NSERC funded project focused in examining Human Factors issues in automated-trading systems. Trading systems in the finance industry are not designed to support cognitive processes underlying financial decision making. In this study, we explore how to present information from trading algorithms to traders for better decision making. We looked at differences between trading in manual and automated environments. We also explored the impact of interruptions on trading behavior. We built a generic scaled-world simulation of the task of financial trading to gain new insights about cognitive processes underlying financial decision making through experimental studies with human participants. Cognitive Work Analysis on financial trading and Ecological Interface Design methods informed interventions for the financial trading domain.

Sponsors and Partners:

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Quantica Trading
Ontario Centres of Excellence

Li^*, Y. and Burns, C.M. (2017). Modelling automation with Cognitive Work Analysis to support human-automation coordination. Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making. 11(4), 299-322.https://doi.org/10.1177/1555343417709669
Minotra^*, D. and Burns, C.M. (2017). Understanding safe performance in rapidly evolving systems: A risk management analysis of the 2010 US stock mark flash crash with Rasmussen’s risk management framework. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science. 18(6), 608-630. 10.1080/1463922X.2016.1254837
Li^*, Y., Wang, X., and Burns, C.M. (2017). Ecological Interface Design for financial trading: Trading performance and risk preference effects. 2017 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics. 600-605. 10.1109/SMC.2017.8122672
Li^*, Y., Hu, R., Burns, C.M. (2016). Representing stages and levels of automation on the decision ladder: The case of automated financial trading. Proceedings the 2016 Annual meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. 328-333.