How auction theory is reshaping finance and compute trading

How auction theory is reshaping finance and compute trading

From The {Closed} Session by Tom Chavez -- super{set}

March 30, 2026 · 29 min · Episode 67

About this episode

Kelly Littlepage discusses how auction theory is transforming finance and trading through advanced optimization techniques.

Most financial markets still run on one-to-one matching when optimization engines could unlock trillions. Kelly Littlepage co-founded OneChronos after exits to major financial institutions, building the fastest-growing US equities market processing $20 billion daily using Nobel Prize-winning combinatorial auction theory. He breaks down why capital markets lagged behind ad markets in auction sophistication, how machine learning solves NP-hard matching problems at Wall Street speed, and why GPU compute markets need combinatorial auctions to handle non-fungible infrastructure across latency zones and chip architectures. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

People in this episode

Host: Tom Chavez

Guest: Kelly Littlepage

Topics covered

  • auction theory
  • finance
  • machine learning
  • capital markets
  • equities market
  • combinatorial auctions

Keywords

  • auction theory
  • finance
  • machine learning
  • capital markets
  • equities market
  • combinatorial auctions
  • GPU compute markets

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: OneChronos, Wall Street, California

Books & works: Nobel Prize

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