Ai Won’t Make You A Good Trader, But Here’s How The Pros Use It Anyway

What Happened

Charles Edwards of Capriole Investments and Julio Moreno of CryptoQuant call AI an accelerant for serious research. Benjamin Cowen and Michael van de Poppe, speaking on a separate panel, reach the same conclusion from the trading desk.

Edwards founded Capriole Investments, a quantitative Bitcoin (BTC) hedge fund. Moreno serves as Head of Research at CryptoQuant. Cowen and van de Poppe are widely followed, independent market analysts.

Market Context

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how crypto and traditional markets get traded, yet four leading analysts agree it rewards skill rather than replacing it. The edge in AI in crypto trading still comes from clean data and human judgment.

Speaking at the Market Intelligence Council, Edwards said AI shifts the opportunity toward those who do the work.

Van de Poppe showed how accessible this has become. He built a sample crypto portfolio using a chatbot and free data feeds. Tools like AI agents now pull live market data on demand.

He also warned against treating AI as magic. The tool will not deliver “some sort of magic that creates an infinite money loop.” That caution matches the wider market, where few experts back hands-off trading bots.

Why It Matters

Four Analysts, One Conclusion

On-chain analytics and AI tools have moved from niche to mainstream across crypto research. Two BeInCrypto panels gathered four analysts who use them every day.

Details

“I think AI as well is making that… playing field more opportunistic for certain people.”

On a separate panel, van de Poppe set the limit plainly.

“It’s not going to make you a great trader if you weren’t a good trader in the first place.”

Where AI Already Helps

The clearest gains show up in routine research. AI now compresses tasks that once took hours.

Edwards pointed to faster analysis as the main benefit.

“The tool sets to do that are much more powerful and… it can be done more quickly today with AI.”

“You can build a portfolio and a dashboard of cryptocurrencies within five minutes with just free APIs.”

Why AI Still Needs a Human

Speed does not equal skill. Van de Poppe noted that his AI portfolio missed important context.

“It didn’t create a basket of uncorrelated cryptos… it doesn’t have any macros in there.”

He said judgment fills that gap.

“That’s where the human knowledge and experience comes in and the intuition… That the AI agent doesn’t have or the LLM.”

Moreno said institutions trust data but keep testing it.

“They do trust it but they verify a lot, and are continuously monitoring if the data remains relevant.”

Inside the Models