
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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