Artificial intelligence brings the potential to change the world, and it's already impacting financial markets. ChatGPT and other generative AI models can bring algorithmic trading to all retail traders, even those with minimal technical backgrounds. In this article, learn about artificial intelligence software designed for trading.
ChatGPT’s launch in late November caused uproar across multiple industries, but retail traders have eagerly embraced the powerful tool. Let’s examine if ChatGPT can build your next forex trading strategy and how it can help you harness the power of artificial intelligence trading today.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool developed by OpenAI, an American artificial intelligence research and deployment company. The AI application was trained on large language models to generate articulate and seemingly human answers to any question. While ChatGPT does not get every answer right, it’s still in the early stages of development and it is already strong enough to have taken the world by storm.
Already several corporations have partnered with OpenAI. In early February 2022, Microsoft integrated a chatbot modeled after ChatGPT in its own Bing search engine. There will no doubt be many more high-level applications for ChatGPT in the future, but so far, traders still have several hoops to jump through when creating trading strategies using ChatGPT.
How to create a trading strategy with ChatGPT
To create a trading strategy with ChatGPT, you can request it to code a specific strategy and parameters. To do this, you must conduct your own technical analysis to get an idea of the parameters you want to specify, designing the logic of the trading strategy and how it will execute trades. You will then need to backtest the strategy using historical market data, which requires coding or building the script into a trading platform.
Traders are also advised to understand the programming language used by ChatGPT so they can double check for any errors or anomalies in the script; because the consequences of code gone awry can be a costly mistake.
Is using ChatGPT to create a trading strategy a good idea?
ChatGPT might seem like a goldmine for forex traders looking to leverage artificial intelligence to increase their trade profitability. However, there are several limitations to ChatGPT’s capabilities to automate a forex trading strategy. For example, the natural language processor has only been trained on data published before 2021, so it has no ability to monitor live markets and suggest relevant strategies.
ChatGPT can suggest generic strategies based on the technical analysis data you give it. The generative AI software can even create trading algorithms if you feed it enough data. Since the release of ChatGPT, many traders have used the software to develop rudimentary algorithmic trading strategies to automate their trades. This highly automated style of trading is prized by traders seeking to eliminate emotion, increase trading speed, and maximize a trading strategy’s potential.
However, ChatGPT is not a perfect equivalent to traditional algo trading software. Traders still need a strong knowledge of programming languages to double-check the strategies it develops.
Many traders have already found inaccuracies while testing the software. Even OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman tweeted in December “it’s a mistake to be relying on [ChatGPT] for anything important right now.” Altman went on to write that OpenAI has a lot of work still to be done to ensure robust and accurate answers.
It’s important to remember ChatGTP was not developed for trading nor designed by traders. Several issues can arise when using the AI to create algo strategies:
- ChatGPT lacks an understanding of the forex market, so traders need to ensure they are inputting the necessary information into the chatbot to receive a reliable strategy
- ChatGPT cannot conduct quality assurance on the strategies it develops. Because the AI does not have access to recent market information, there is no way to use ChatGPT to backtest new trading strategies
- You still need to understand whatever programming language you ask ChatGPT to script in. Because the AI is prone to bugs, you should be able to find and correct any bugs generated in the script
- There is currently no easy way to integrate ChatGPT into your trading platform. This means you will have to completely transfer over any programming code that is generated by ChatGPT into your trading platform
- OpenAI has launched a subscription plan for ChatGPT, suggesting free users will not have complete access to the AI software in the future
How to trade forex with an AI trading bot
While ChatGPT has grabbed the most headlines, other AI trading software platforms are available to retail traders. For example, AI trading bots feature more extensive applications for forex trading and much easier integration compared to ChatGPT. These AI trading bots allow you to write out ‘if-then’ strategies and turn them into a coded algorithm strategy. The bots will then backtest your strategy against historical data and run it automatically.
Compared to ChatGPT, AI trading bots are designed to integrate seamlessly with platforms like TradingView and the FOREX.com web and mobile apps. This makes it an extremely functional application for forex traders looking to begin algo trading.
