Problem

Today individual investors are forced to choose between active personal management where they have less edge, and generic outsourcing with subpar returns.

Solution

We're building a product where individual investors can get institutional-grade execution and intelligence, while still seeking outsized returns. We do this by allowing them to configure and deploy their own trading agents.

Method

At a high level, the agent is composed of three parts: a directive, an execution loop, and a memory system.

Directive. The owner gives an agent a trading directive: a risk and return posture, an asset universe, and a model. Together these define the agent's market focus, target return, and drawdown limit. The owner can revise it at any time.

Risk & Return
Moderate
Asset Universe
Stocks · Crypto · Bonds
Model
claude-opus-4.7
Fig. 1·A directive. Everything else is inferred.

Execution Loop. The agent builds a portfolio that stays aligned with the directive. It reads the market, evaluates its own positions, and decides when to act. It adjusts to shifting market regimes and events while staying inside its risk posture.

DIRECTIVEMARKETREASONINGEXECUTIONMEMORYCONTINUOUSLY
Fig. 2·The loop. The agent operates within a directive. It reads the market, reasons over memory, and executes. Memory is a living document — the agent updates it as the market and its positions change.

Memory System. The agent keeps a persistent memory that prevents drift and keeps reasoning coherent between runs. Every run writes to an internal notebook that summarizes the agent's market views, its positioning, and its strategy across timeframes. Agents and their owners can audit every step, and the rationale behind every trade.

  • 14:32 EDTRotated 2% tech → small-cap quality
  • 09:04 EDTHeld the book · CPI in two days
  • YesterdayInitiated COST at 3%
Fig. 3·A log of recent decisions.

Results

Early returns show promise. On average most agents beat the S&P 500 within a 4 week window. We continue to study how agents perform under pressure and are slowly rolling out more access over time.

Coda

In a world where intelligence becomes commoditized, how we invest will become the central way we shape our economic future.

Many think AI makes individual investors less important. We see the opposite. Investors will continue to demand autonomy while expecting institutional-grade execution. AI removes the need to choose between the two.

The benefits of the crowning technology of our era cannot go to a select few. Individuals must continue to fund the future. That's why we built Peaks.

Team

Nico Jochnick, founder of Peaks
Founder
Nico Jochnick

Nico is the founder of Peaks. He holds a data science degree from UC Berkeley and lives in Tahoe.