Trading bots teach themselves to gang up on the market, no group chat required
Ourtake
Antitrust law bans handshake deals, not bots that quietly learn to price together.
What happened
A National Bureau of Economic Research study found that reinforcement-learning trading bots in simulated markets developed cartel-like coordination without communication or explicit programming. The bots earned above-average profits while market efficiency declined, and the researchers warn regulators will need new rules.