Julian Zhong-Nan Zhang

dblp:429/7074 · DBLP profile ↗
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1ranked-venue papers
1as first author
1since 2021 · last 2026
—ORCID · none

Domains — the database's venue-derived domains; a paper can count in several

Artificial intelligence and machine learning · 1 · 1 first-author · 1 since 2021Graphics, computer vision, multimedia, augmented reality and games · 1 · 1 first-author · 1 since 2021

Expertise — from the expertise taxonomy: the topics of the expert's papers under the CCF categories. A weight counts papers with recency: 1 for a paper about the topic, 0.3 when the topic is its context, halved every five years.

Interdisciplinary, comprehensive, and emerging computing
1 paper
Computational finance and economics · 100%
Artificial intelligence
1 paper
Reinforcement learning · 100%

Topics — the 4 heaviest of 4, each with the papers that count most for it

TopicWeightPapersLastEvidence papers
Machine learning › Reinforcement learning
imitation learning
1.012026
An Interactive Simulation Framework by Ensemble Imitation Learning Agents for Training Robust Trading Policies · AAAI 2026
Computational finance and economics
algorithmic trading
1.012026
An Interactive Simulation Framework by Ensemble Imitation Learning Agents for Training Robust Trading Policies · AAAI 2026
Computational finance and economics › algorithmic trading
reinforcement learning for trading
1.012026
An Interactive Simulation Framework by Ensemble Imitation Learning Agents for Training Robust Trading Policies · AAAI 2026
Machine learning › Reinforcement learning
market simulation
0.312026
An Interactive Simulation Framework by Ensemble Imitation Learning Agents for Training Robust Trading Policies · AAAI 2026

Methods — techniques the papers use, named apart from their topics

imitation learning · 2.0action synthesis network · 2.0
YearPublicationVenuePosition
2026 An Interactive Simulation Framework by Ensemble Imitation Learning Agents for Training Robust Trading Policies
abstract
The reliable deployment of reinforcement learning (RL) for real-world algorithmic trading is critically hindered by the ``simulation-to-reality gap.'' Standard industry backtesting on static historical data ignores market impact—the feedback loop where an agent's trades influence price dynamics—leading to strategies that are fragile and untrustworthy in live markets. To solve this significant problem, we present a novel and emerging application of AI: a framework for building an interactive, responsive market simulator. Our system first uses imitation learning (IL) to automatically train an ensemble of agents, each learning a distinct trading strategy from a different historical market regime (e.g., bull, bear). This creates a data-driven proxy for a diverse population of real-world traders. We then deploy an innovative Action Synthesis Network to synthesize the actions of this ensemble, generating a realistic, synthetic price trajectory that endogenously models the market's reaction to trades. This interactive environment is then used to train a final RL policy. We evaluate our system on NASDAQ-100 (QQQ) data, and the results demonstrate strong potential for deployment. The RL policy trained in our responsive simulator achieves significantly more robust performance, exhibiting superior downside protection during market downturns compared to various traditional baselines. This application provides a scalable and technically sound methodology for building more realistic training environments, presenting a clear path toward the development and eventual deployment of more resilient and effective algorithmic trading strategies.
Julian Zhong-Nan Zhang
AAAI1