Computer trading programs faring worse on current market psychology

07/30/2013 - 00:00


By Tim Fernholz @timfernholz -

The Federal Reserve has spooked markets with its gnomic pronouncements, but human traders should take heart: Currency funds that rely on computer trading have fared much worse in 2013, as markets respond more to psychology and political intrigue. In the first half of the year, computer-managed funds earned a return of 0.7% and human-managed funds a return of 2.3%, according to data from Parker Global Strategies as reported by Bloomberg.

Probability models are finding it exceedingly difficult to predict how markets will react to central bank attempts to stimulate the economy in a world of low interest rates.

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