07-29-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

Why more data and compute won’t save algorithmic trading

How retail investors are closing the gap with institutions, thanks to data signals and trust.

[Photo: Getty Images]

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of top leaders and experts who pay dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership, and more.

I spent years on Wall Street building the same models that gave big institutions their edge, watching the gaps and building the signals to close them. It became impossible to ignore how the tools that made investors their money stayed locked behind institutional walls, never reaching the individual investors on the other side of the trade. Eventually I’d seen enough of the game from the inside. I left the big institutions to share what I’d learned with the people who never had that access: retail investors with just as much of a right to win.

In 2019, that desire finally manifested as Prospero.ai, an AI app designed to simplify institutional-grade data into signals everyday investors could use, with accuracy that would earn their trust over time. Today, what started as an app is now an ecosystem that democratizes access to institutional intelligence, helping so-called “dumb money” get smart. 

In the years since, much has changed. Retail traders are no longer at the margins. In fact, in 2025, retail traders accounted for 20–25% of total volume, reaching a record high of 35% in April that year, per J.P. Morgan data. What’s even more interesting is that........

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