Portable alpha - Rise of the machine

Automated algorithm-based investment strategies have been gaining ground with institutional and high-net-worth investors over the past few months. But do they pose a real threat to traditional fund managers? Gareth Gore reports

Technological advances haven't quite lived up to the vision of futurist minds. But while the robot household cleaner and teleport have yet to make it off the drawing board, a small technological revolution is steadily gaining ground in the world of structured products. Man versus machine is slowly becoming a reality in the market-place, with strategies that once were the trademark of only the most experienced traders now being replicated by computers - cheaper, quicker and, so its advocates say