The Operating-Layer Dominance Hypothesis: Why Agentic Trading Alpha Is an Interface Problem, Not a Model Problem

Hadi Soufi

Abstract

Research and capital in agentic trading systems increasingly target model capability. This position paper argues that, in systems executing real capital, output-behavior variance is better explained by interface and execution parameters than by model reasoning content. It synthesizes evidence from multi-agent coordination architecture, production-scale live evaluation, and empirical alpha-decay studies into a testable operating-layer hypothesis.

Read on SSRN

Cite

Soufi, H. (2026). The Operating-Layer Dominance Hypothesis: Why Agentic Trading Alpha Is an Interface Problem, Not a Model Problem. SSRN Working Paper. https://ssrn.com/abstract=7472064

@misc{soufi2026operating,
  author       = {Soufi, Hadi},
  title        = {The Operating-Layer Dominance Hypothesis: Why Agentic Trading Alpha Is an Interface Problem, Not a Model Problem},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {SSRN Working Paper},
  url          = {https://ssrn.com/abstract=7472064}
}

Copy BibTeX