NinjaTrader Creates Chief AI Officer Role As Retail Trading Platforms Race To Embed Artificial Intelligence

NinjaTrader Group has created the role of Chief Innovation & AI Officer and appointed a new Chief Product Officer, becoming the latest retail trading platform to restructure its executive team around artificial intelligence as brokers compete to embed AI into their platforms.

The appointments come as AI rapidly becomes a key competitive battleground across the trading industry. Retail brokers, exchanges and fintech firms are investing heavily in AI-powered assistants, workflow automation, predictive analytics and autonomous agents, moving beyond simple chatbots toward systems capable of market analysis, strategy development and execution.

New Executive Structure

Brian Weis, previously NinjaTrader’s Chief Product Officer, has been appointed to the newly created Chief Innovation & AI Officer role. He will lead the company’s AI strategy, agent-native platform development, Model Context Protocol (MCP) infrastructure and prediction market initiatives. Stephen Yi joins as Chief Product Officer from digital consultancy Codal, bringing more than a decade of trading industry experience including over ten years at proprietary trading firm Jump Trading.

The separation of long-term technology innovation from day-to-day product management allows NinjaTrader to accelerate AI development while maintaining focus on its core trading platform.

AI as Competitive Differentiator

“The most important work happening in trading right now is at the intersection of AI and trading infrastructure, and NinjaTrader is uniquely positioned to lead that charge,” Weis said. “Traders are demanding smarter tools, faster insights, and platforms that work as hard as they do.”

The announcement follows a wave of AI investment across retail trading. Brokers have introduced AI research assistants, automated portfolio management, intelligent support and trade analytics. Increasingly, firms are looking toward agent-based systems capable of completing multi-step tasks such as analyzing markets and executing strategies under human supervision.

NinjaTrader’s focus on agent-native AI and Model Context Protocol — an open standard allowing AI agents to securely connect with external tools and databases — indicates the company is positioning for that next phase, where AI interacts directly with trading infrastructure rather than generating text-based responses.

Prediction Markets Join Roadmap

The company also confirmed that prediction markets form part of the new AI leadership portfolio, reflecting growing interest in event-based contracts. Prediction markets have attracted attention as regulatory frameworks evolve, and several market participants see them as a growth opportunity alongside traditional futures and options.

Building on a Large Retail Base

Founded in 2003, NinjaTrader serves more than 3.5 million traders globally. It operates NinjaTrader Clearing, a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant, and provides institutional technology services through NinjaTrader Connect. The cloud-based platform spans desktop, web and mobile.

“AI is going to fundamentally reshape how people invest and trade, and NinjaTrader’s mission is to make sure our traders are on the right side of that shift,” said CEO Martin Franchi. “Brian will push our AI and innovation agenda forward at the frontier level, and Stephen will ensure our product roadmap is built around what traders need to succeed in that world.”