Kardec TraderFutures Trader. Creator of The Midas Touch. Mentor

98% of Trading Is Automated. Simply Follow the Structure.

16 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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0:47

In this brief commentary, the speaker explains that while roughly 98% of trades at banks are now automated, there remains a need for human discretion on certain tasks. Different trading desks exhibit varying levels of automation: equity, forex, structured derivatives, and options desks operate at about 98‑99% automation, whereas the structured credit desk remains largely manual, relying on trader‑to‑trader conversations and Bloomberg price requests. The overall message highlights both the dominance of automation in modern trading and the pockets where traditional, hands‑on methods persist.

Chapters

Is there still any discretion in the way they trade at banks, or it's all automated nowadays? So there is discretion. Consider that 98% of the trades are automated. So there is some specific tasks that you cannot automate. That one is another huge difference that you don't know until you don't get there. Like, you have several different desks because you have the equity desk, you have the forex desk, you have the structured derivatives products, you have the option desk. Some of them that can be basically automated at 98%, almost 99% of their activities. Others on the other end are still quite old school, like the structured credit desk, still rooted on conversation between trader and trader, like opening the Bloomberg chart and requesting the price. That one is still very much old school.