Fintech
A recent survey of 8,506 Australian clients of CMC Markets and CMC Invest sheds light on the growing use of artificial intelligence in trading, but also highlights a significant trust gap. While 48.6% of respondents use AI to support investment decisions, only 29.4% trust its market insights. The findings suggest that although AI is becoming more prevalent, investors remain cautious about relying on its output. Most clients employ AI for research and education rather than for generating trade ideas. Among all respondents, 33.1% use AI occasionally and 15.6% regularly. Those who use AI regularly appear more active: 46.4% plan to trade or invest more over the next six months, compared with just 25% of non-users. They also tend to be more bullish, more confident, and more inclined to increase exposure to US equities. The survey establishes an association, not causation; more active and internationally oriented clients may be more likely to adopt AI in the first place. The sample included 8,116 CMC Invest clients and 390 CMC Markets clients, so results may not represent the broader Australian investor population. Meanwhile, brokers are embedding AI directly into client accounts. Interactive Brokers allows clients to connect supported AI applications to authorised portfolio data. These tools can analyse holdings, identify risks, and prepare trading instructions, but clients must review and submit every order themselves. MetaQuotes has integrated AI into account analysis, strategy development, and trading operations. MetaTrader 5 assistants can review positions and trading history, retrieve Strategy Tester reports, analyse logs, and initiate strategy optimisation. Users can prohibit AI-initiated trades, allow them, or require manual approval. Binance goes further with its Agent OS, which provides access to market data and supported trading functions within a dedicated sub-account. Users set permissions and capital limits, and external withdrawals remain unavailable.
The three systems offer different levels of AI control: Interactive Brokers limits AI to preparing instructions, MetaTrader lets users choose whether orders need approval, and Binance permits execution within a restricted sub-account. Notably, the CMC survey did not ask whether clients would allow AI to place trades. It found only that AI use is more common than trust in its output, leaving open how far investors are willing to delegate actual trading decisions.