Inside the Trading Loop: Markets, Models, and Moves with LLM Agents

Renee Jia, Di Mu, Yao Yu, Tianrui Liu

We built a hybrid multi-agent trading system that combines large language model (LLM) analysts with momentum-based portfolio construction and rule-based execution. Company-news and macroeconomic agents return structured reports to a coordinator that sets stock weights and cash reserves. We evaluate the portfolio engine using its broker-recorded paper account, which operated with deterministic fallbacks, and compare LLM-enabled configurations through retrospective replays. From March 11 to August 28, 2026, the account returned 34.5%, compared with 14.4% for the S&P 500 fund SPY over the same dates. This raw return advantage came with a larger maximum drawdown. Reconstructed policies also finish above matched SPY and QQQ references when assessments are used in the same session or deferred to the next. Design comparisons examine cash authority, selective invocation, and response contracts. A constant-cash control gives a return estimate close to stance-based sizing, and shorter report contracts improve observed parsing but can change recommendations.