It seems savvy traders weren't the only ones surprised by the market's wild moves. It turns out the machine brains didn't see it coming either. Hedge funds that depend on artificial intelligence to make their trading decisions were also seemingly unable to figure out how to play the stonk market, contributing to a dismal start of the year for these investors.
"We have documented a series of events like this over the years, such as the Brexit referendum vote and the Greek referendum and Trump's election, where something unusual is happening that is driving the market, where these strategies get caught off guard," Hassan says.