Principal Investigator: Madhan Gopal Perumal, D.B.A. - 469-428-7052
Co-Principal Investigator: Amit Mehra, Ph.D. - 972-883-5083
Faculty Sponsor: Amit Mehra, Ph.D. - 972-883-5083
You are invited to be part of a research study. This study aims to understand whether the analysis provided by Large Language Models may improve stock day trading by individuals using an AI-powered trading assistant.
As a participant, you will make day trading decisions and make simulated paper trades using a phantom budget based on either an AI recommendation or recommendation from a rule-based system. Randomly some of the participants will be allocated to the group that receives AI-powered recommendations throughout the study period. The rest of the participants will be allocated to another group that receives recommendations from a rule-based system throughout the study period. Participation in the study requires you to make trade decisions on at least 10 days in a contiguous period of 15 days.
By accessing and using the Stock Day Trading Investment Agent application, you confirm that you are at least 21 years of age. Your participation in this research study is voluntary, and you acknowledge the consent before proceeding.
The purpose of this research study is to evaluate generative AI-driven stock analysis and information presentation for educational purposes. The insights from this study are intended solely for research evaluation and are not actual investment advice.
With thousands of day traders globally seeking tools to improve their success rate, there is a significant need for research on intelligent trading solutions using AI. Our AI agent provides daily trading recommendations by synthesizing predictive modeling, technical analysis, and news sentiment. Upon receiving a stock ticker as input from the participant, the system outputs a trading recommendation. The trading recommendation may either be from a generative-AI based system that provides a human like analysis along with next predicted price, or a generic rule-based system that only gives the predicted next closing price. Participants, are then required to make simulated paper trades based on the recommendations. This research is designed in A/B testing approach where some participants receive the AI recommendation whereas the others receive the recommendation from the rule-based system. Thus, using the A/B testing approach, the research evaluates the potential profitability of the generative-AI based recommendation system.
Participants will be assigned randomly to either the treatment group or the control group. Those in the treatment group will be assigned to the generative-AI based system for the duration of the experiment while those in the control group will be assigned to the rule-based system. App participants are required to engage with the paper trading simulation for at least 10 business days in the experiment duration of 15 days and make minimum 1 trade/day. They must complete a minimum of 10 paper trades within the app. The participants are required to answer some survey questions regarding their background before they start playing the game. At the end of the experiment, they must answer a few more questions about their experience with playing the game.
Between 150 to 250
Each participant is required to play the game for a minimum of 10 days in the experiment duration of 15 days.
Inclusion Criteria - Adults aged 21 or over can participate in this study.
Exclusion Criteria - No exclusion criteria are set as playing the game involves minimal risk with no physical or psychological interventions. The procedures and interactions in the study are comparable to routine classroom activities and online educational exercises. Therefore, participation does not present risk to physical, psychological, or financial well-being.
There is less than minimal risk associated with participation in this study, though this study may involve risks to the participant which are currently unforeseeable. Participants will be informed about significant findings that provide additional information about risks or that may influence their decision to continue participation in this research.
Compensation for an injury resulting from participation in this research is not available from The University of Texas at Dallas. However, you retain your legal rights during participation in this research.
The analysis and outcome of this research study would be shared with all participants.
Participants who receive AI recommendation may benefit from participation in this study by learning how to utilize recommendations from an AI-model as well as learning how to conduct day trading. In addition, the steps of the data analysis and results will also be shared with the participants, which would enable them to appreciate how the data analysis of a practical A/B test is conducted.
Participants who do not receive AI recommendations may not directly benefit in understanding AI model, however, would benefit by learning day trading. In addition, the steps of the data analysis and results will also be shared with the participants, which would enable them to appreciate how the data analysis of a practical A/B test is conducted.
Moreover, this study findings will inform practitioners and researchers about the practical benefits and limitations of incorporating AI recommendations in stock day trading. This study assesses the effectiveness and reliability of the AI in comparison to conventional trading strategies and ultimately contributes insights into the practical applications of AI in financial decision-making.
Individuals may choose not to participate.
Participation in this study is voluntary. All individuals have the right to agree or refuse to participate in this study. Individuals who consent to participate also have the right to change their minds at any time during the study. Participants may tell the investigators that they no longer wish to participate. Refusal or withdrawal of participation will not involve any penalty to which non-participants are entitled. Refusal to participate will not affect participants' legal rights or the quality of health care/instruction/education, etc. they may wish to receive at UTD/Callier Center/ etc.
For UTD students: Your decision whether or not to participate will not adversely affect your grades or education in any way.
Researchers may decide to remove participants from this study if:
All of the information participants provide to investigators as part of this research will be protected and held in confidence within the limits of the law and institutional regulation.
Publications where this study is published may be provided with study information for publication, audit purposes, etc.
Your participation will involve the collection of personal data, such as your email address and login credentials, solely for research and application purposes. All data collected will be securely stored. It will not be sold or shared with third parties. Your consent to data collection and processing is required to access and participate in this research.
Private information that can be used to identify you will be removed from the data collected after the experiment period. After such removal, the de-identified data could be used by Investigators for future research studies or distributed to another investigator for future research studies without additional informed consent.
Members and associated staff of the IRB of The University of Texas at Dallas may review the records of your participation in this research. An IRB is a group of people who are responsible for assuring the community that the rights of participants in research are respected. A representative of the UTD IRB may contact you to gather information about your participation in this research. If you wish, you may refuse to answer questions the representative of the IRB may ask.
The results of this research may appear in publications, but individual participants will not be identified.
The results and outcome of this research study would be shared with MSIS and MSBA classes from which the participants were recruited. UTD JSOM students, especially those in finance, business, computer science, or related fields, may receive the results of this study.
Participants who want more information about this research may contact any of the investigators listed at the top of page 1 of this document. Participants who want more information about their rights as a participant or who want to report a research-related injury may contact:
UTD Office of Human Subjects Protections: 972-883-4575 or HSP@utdallas.edu
UTD Office of Research and Innovation