AI Is Slowing Hiring at Prop Firms, Not Replacing Traders – Yet
AI is prompting proprietary trading firms to slow hiring and
focus on more specialized talent, but it is not yet driving widescale job cuts,
according to Acuiti’s Q2 2026 Proprietary Trading Management Insight Report in
association with Avelacom.
The survey, based on a global network of institutional prop
firms, shows that managers mainly use AI to boost productivity of existing
staff while becoming more selective about new roles. Asked how AI is changing
their approach to employment, 44% of firms said they are slowing the pace of
hiring.
Institutional proprietary trading firms trade with their own
capital on regulated exchanges, using in‑house teams, technology, and
colocation to run systematic and high‑frequency strategies. Retail‑style prop
firms, by contrast, are built around selling funded accounts or evaluations to
individual traders.
Only 15% reported reducing headcount due to AI productivity
gains, with 3% “significantly” reducing staff and 12% slightly cutting
headcount. By contrast, 32% are slightly increasing hiring and 6% are
aggressively increasing hiring, suggesting a split between firms leaning into
AI‑driven
growth and those pausing to reassess their staffing needs.
Source: Acuiti
The trend is most pronounced at firms that combine
algorithmic trading with point‑and‑click execution . These firms use
AI to automate routine work, support decision‑making and increase throughput for
existing teams. The report notes that, rather than pulling out of markets or
shutting desks, most firms seek to run leaner, more efficient operations and
demand clearer justification for each additional hire.
Continue reading: Everyone Talks About AI’s Power. Few Ask What It Does to Financial Decisions
As overall hiring momentum cools, the type of roles prop
shops want is changing. Acuiti’s report finds that firms are moving away from
broad-based recruitment and instead target highly specialized profiles,
particularly in quantitative research, engineering and data science. These
roles are central to developing, training and integrating AI models into
trading strategies and infrastructure.
Demand Shifts to Quant, Data and Engineering Skills
Remonda Møller, the Founder of Muinmos, said at the Finance Magnates London Summit 2025 that AI is a major
focus right now, but boards need a clear understanding of what they are
adopting. In compliance, the key questions remain how usable, accurate and
accountable any AI system actually is.
Muinmos’ Founder and CEO, Remonda Kirketerp-Møller
“AI is a hot topic, but boards must understand what they are
getting into. Its usability, accuracy, and
accountability are fundamental in compliance.”
The AI findings sit alongside other structural themes in the
report. During the first quarter of 2026, marked by heightened volatility
driven by conflict in the Middle East and concerns about AI’s impact on
corporate business models, 83% of firms said their operational performance was
good or excellent.
However, 54% reported issues with market data feed capacity
and latency, and 46% saw problems with order management and execution
technology, highlighting pressure points as firms scale more automated, model‑driven
strategies.
Together, the data suggests that AI is reshaping how prop
firms think about headcount and skills, but in a gradual, targeted way. For
now, productivity gains appear to translate into slower, more selective hiring
rather than large‑scale displacement of traders and technologists.
Retail Brokers Lean on AI Too
In retail brokerage, AI has already appeared in layoff
narratives. Early this year, eToro announced a plan to cut about 7% of its global
workforce and explicitly cited “process automation and AI” as part of the push
to operate more efficiently and focus on key priorities.
“We are reducing our global headcount by approximately
7%”, CEO, Yoni Assia said. “We are aligning our resources with our key
priorities and leveraging process automation and AI to operate more efficiently
and focus on the areas most critical to our long-term success. This will
sharpen our execution so we can move faster.”
Previously, the operator of FXCM and Tradu announced
that it was preparing to cut more than 100 jobs and pointed to “agentic AI” as
one factor behind that reduction. The question remains whether AI is becoming a
genuine driver of leaner broker operations or simply a convenient label for
cost-cutting.
Outside the trading industry, Meta signaled a similar shift late last year, saying it was considering cutting its metaverse budget by up to 30% and reallocating those resources toward AI.
AI is prompting proprietary trading firms to slow hiring and
focus on more specialized talent, but it is not yet driving widescale job cuts,
according to Acuiti’s Q2 2026 Proprietary Trading Management Insight Report in
association with Avelacom.
The survey, based on a global network of institutional prop
firms, shows that managers mainly use AI to boost productivity of existing
staff while becoming more selective about new roles. Asked how AI is changing
their approach to employment, 44% of firms said they are slowing the pace of
hiring.
Institutional proprietary trading firms trade with their own
capital on regulated exchanges, using in‑house teams, technology, and
colocation to run systematic and high‑frequency strategies. Retail‑style prop
firms, by contrast, are built around selling funded accounts or evaluations to
individual traders.
Only 15% reported reducing headcount due to AI productivity
gains, with 3% “significantly” reducing staff and 12% slightly cutting
headcount. By contrast, 32% are slightly increasing hiring and 6% are
aggressively increasing hiring, suggesting a split between firms leaning into
AI‑driven
growth and those pausing to reassess their staffing needs.
Source: Acuiti
The trend is most pronounced at firms that combine
algorithmic trading with point‑and‑click execution . These firms use
AI to automate routine work, support decision‑making and increase throughput for
existing teams. The report notes that, rather than pulling out of markets or
shutting desks, most firms seek to run leaner, more efficient operations and
demand clearer justification for each additional hire.
Continue reading: Everyone Talks About AI’s Power. Few Ask What It Does to Financial Decisions
As overall hiring momentum cools, the type of roles prop
shops want is changing. Acuiti’s report finds that firms are moving away from
broad-based recruitment and instead target highly specialized profiles,
particularly in quantitative research, engineering and data science. These
roles are central to developing, training and integrating AI models into
trading strategies and infrastructure.
Demand Shifts to Quant, Data and Engineering Skills
Remonda Møller, the Founder of Muinmos, said at the Finance Magnates London Summit 2025 that AI is a major
focus right now, but boards need a clear understanding of what they are
adopting. In compliance, the key questions remain how usable, accurate and
accountable any AI system actually is.
Muinmos’ Founder and CEO, Remonda Kirketerp-Møller
“AI is a hot topic, but boards must understand what they are
getting into. Its usability, accuracy, and
accountability are fundamental in compliance.”
The AI findings sit alongside other structural themes in the
report. During the first quarter of 2026, marked by heightened volatility
driven by conflict in the Middle East and concerns about AI’s impact on
corporate business models, 83% of firms said their operational performance was
good or excellent.
However, 54% reported issues with market data feed capacity
and latency, and 46% saw problems with order management and execution
technology, highlighting pressure points as firms scale more automated, model‑driven
strategies.
Together, the data suggests that AI is reshaping how prop
firms think about headcount and skills, but in a gradual, targeted way. For
now, productivity gains appear to translate into slower, more selective hiring
rather than large‑scale displacement of traders and technologists.
Retail Brokers Lean on AI Too
In retail brokerage, AI has already appeared in layoff
narratives. Early this year, eToro announced a plan to cut about 7% of its global
workforce and explicitly cited “process automation and AI” as part of the push
to operate more efficiently and focus on key priorities.
“We are reducing our global headcount by approximately
7%”, CEO, Yoni Assia said. “We are aligning our resources with our key
priorities and leveraging process automation and AI to operate more efficiently
and focus on the areas most critical to our long-term success. This will
sharpen our execution so we can move faster.”
Previously, the operator of FXCM and Tradu announced
that it was preparing to cut more than 100 jobs and pointed to “agentic AI” as
one factor behind that reduction. The question remains whether AI is becoming a
genuine driver of leaner broker operations or simply a convenient label for
cost-cutting.
Outside the trading industry, Meta signaled a similar shift late last year, saying it was considering cutting its metaverse budget by up to 30% and reallocating those resources toward AI.
