Stockbot: a monitoring and acting software agent for stock markets

Stockbot is a software agent designed for the task of monitoring an electronic stock market in order to execute investor purchase or sale orders. Stockbot represents a tool for managing the dynamical complexity of electronic stock markets by establishing a virtual portfolio manager. Its main goal is to exhibit a behaviour which is a timely, continuous, dynamical response to changes in the market situations in accordance to the user profile and goals. The software agent maintains and dynamically updates a user model which records histories of previous user orders, patterns of user observed behaviour, and user preferences and goals. The software architecture integrates conventional and knowledge-based software technologies such as conditional and iterative planning, continuous conditions monitoring, robust failure management, inter-agent communication primitives and events networks. A Dynamical Query Language is used to describe stockbot behaviour. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.