AI and social trading reshape investment decisions by 2027

Vugar Usi likens investment decisions to restaurant reviews and holiday snapshots. When someone succeeds, others attempt to copy that success.

“I call it a screen-optimised life,” MEXC’s chief executive told BeInCrypto at TOKEN2049.

Artificial intelligence offers investors an additional advisory channel, one that can increasingly take action for them. On September 28, MEXC introduced a tool that links users' own AI agents to the exchange, letting them draft and execute trades while requiring confirmation for important steps.

As 2027 approaches, the path from another person's concept to an investor's transaction grows shorter. How much decision-making power stays with the individual whose funds are on the line?

The portfolio as a personal identity signal

Usi views social trading as evolving into 'a kind of identity signal.' An investment can indicate a person's admiration for someone or how soon they spotted a chance.

“Sometimes you want to be able to say: I invested in Amazon ten years ago. I was one of the first to discover a certain opportunity.”

Research backs the importance of those motivations. A FINRA Foundation study released in April, drawing on its 2024 investor survey, reported that social activity drove 59% of investors who use social media, versus 11% of those who do not.

The same study identified a disconnect between self-assurance and verified investment knowledge among such users. Social trading can make markets more accessible, but it may also leave investors uncertain about evaluating the ideas they come across.

According to Usi, excitement about AI firms boosted trading activity on MEXC.

“That’s the topic everyone is talking about, and it fuelled the trade.”

Pursuing a trending topic makes opportunities simpler to find. Determining whether the price is reasonable still demands independent analysis.

Bringing quant strategies to retail investors

Usi thinks AI can enable individuals to employ some of the analytical reasoning that professional trading firms have used for years.

“Quant firms have been doing algorithmic trading for years. What AI is doing is helping individual users benefit from that kind of logic.”

Professional trading also relies on proven strategies and trustworthy data. Providing an AI assistant does not guarantee that a person can replicate a quant fund's performance.

A MEXC survey on October 15 of 3,708 crypto traders revealed that 84.8% had employed AI for research or trading. Of those AI users, 65.9% followed its recommendations at least occasionally.

These results come from the company's own sample. The reported gains also represent user perceptions, not independently verified returns.

Usi anticipates that the next phase will include more delegation.

“Soon I believe we’ll see a lot of autonomous agents that can rebalance your portfolio and act on opportunities.”

This moves the investor's role toward assessing a system whose specific decisions they might find hard to examine.

Monitoring your money while you sleep

The appeal grows more evident as trading hours lengthen.

“The saying goes that money never sleeps, and neither do exchanges. But humans do sleep,” Usi said.

Nasdaq intends to launch 23-hour trading, five days per week, on December 6. This widens the period during which investors can react to developments before 2027.

Usi envisions software handling positions throughout those hours.

“Maybe in the future, instead of relying on liquidation and stop losses, AI agents will be able to make better decisions before you reach those danger zones.”

That is still a suggested advantage. The interview provided no performance data demonstrating that AI stops forced liquidations of leveraged positions. An agent's capacity to stay active overnight does not indicate whether its choices will be wise.

Extended market hours also offer investors more chances to act impulsively. Automation might help stick to a strategy, as long as the system adheres to limits established before the excitement starts.

Is clicking confirm equivalent to being in control?

Currently, Usi describes a step requiring human approval.

“They can give you an idea of what to do, and all you have to do is confirm the trade before it’s executed.”

A confirmation button gives the investor an important task: understanding what they are authorizing. A confident presentation can make a poor recommendation seem persuasive.

Usi's overall stance is that protective measures should remain.

“That’s what we’re aiming for with AI: you should be cautious about the dangers and limitations, and you shouldn’t waive those limitations, especially in finance.”

Guidance from the Financial Stability Board on October 15 calls for human oversight proportionate to an AI system's autonomy and risk. Effective oversight demands the capacity to intervene as well as to approve.

How much control would investors delegate?

MEXC's survey indicates that users set limits. In a situation where transfers and withdrawals were banned, 54% would allow AI to trade with at most 20% of their account funds. Only 6.5% would permit more than half.

Usi also acknowledges the business significance of the customer relationship.

“Either you have the customer and you can bring all the services to them, or you don’t.”

That relationship grows more significant when a platform helps form an investment idea and supplies the tools to execute on it.

By 2027, more investors might spend their time overseeing decisions they once made themselves. Their level of control will hinge on whether they comprehend the authority they have delegated—and can revoke it when the strategy no longer suits their requirements.