Personalizing Online Trading Without Spoiling Its Intrinsic Advantages

Abstract

Although access to the Internet has become more efficient than before, investors seem still shy away from taking advantage of online trading. Early research indicates that one main reason for the setback is the impersonality of online trading. Brokerage firms and researchers have investigated various kinds of decision support that mimic offline brokerage services, but the lack of timeliness and simplicity of such support may have just ruined the purpose of online trading. To cope with the situation, we have investigated a heuristic model for representing financial securities such that inexperienced investors can naturally perceive personalized guidance for their investment decisions. In addition to a description of our model, this paper also discusses the reasoning schema behind the model and proposes the methods for constructing the model. In contrast to other approaches, our model is aimed to provide personalized decision support without spoiling the intrinsic advantages of online trading.