However, after more powerful computers and data sets came out, the duo believed they could finally make use of machine learning for investment purposes and proceeded to found Voleon.

The Voleon founders believed they were dealing with one of machine learning's hardest problems and would need time to optimize the system before it could earn a profit.

[3][7] In late 2011, the founders of Voleon discarded most machine-learning techniques from other applications and replaced them with custom-made systems designed for financial markets.

Even after the firm bought special chips built for graphics processing units, the simulations took a long time.

One of the problems encountered was that financial markets were chaotic, and machine learning systems were best applied where patterns were more repeating in nature.

A machine learning approach is used where computers are trained to operate independently with no human supervision to write algorithms that make predictions for trades.