Public and Level2 Put Automated Trading Tools in Retail Investors' Hands

NEW YORK, NY – February 11, 2026 – The line between professional and retail investing has blurred once again. Investing platform Public today announced a significant partnership with Level2, a financial technology firm, to integrate a powerful suite of automated trading tools directly into its platform. The collaboration gives millions of retail investors access to something long considered the exclusive domain of Wall Street institutions: the ability to design, test, and deploy automated trading strategies without writing a single line of code.

For years, the complexity and cost of algorithmic trading created a high barrier to entry. This new integration aims to dismantle that barrier with a fully visual, drag-and-drop interface. Public members can now translate their trading ideas into automated systems that execute trades on their behalf, a development that could fundamentally alter how individuals manage their portfolios.

"Our mission at Level2 is to make fully automated, smart trading accessible to every trader," said Andrew Grevett, Co-founder & CEO of Level2, in the announcement. "Partnering with Public brings this vision to life, giving retail investors the tools to automate strategies, accelerate learning, and take full control of their trading."

Public, which has grown into a major platform for long-term investing since its 2019 launch, views the move as a natural extension of its mission to empower its user base.

"At Public, we focus on giving investors more control over their investments," stated Jake Buchsbaum, the company's Head of Acquisition. "Partnering with Level2 allows us to bring intuitive, automated strategy tools to our community - helping members test ideas, manage risk, and invest with greater confidence."

Redefining Access in the Digital Age

The partnership marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing democratization of finance. Retail investors, who now account for as much as a quarter of daily U.S. equity trading volume, have become a formidable market force. Yet, they have largely been excluded from the world of systematic, automated trading due to the need for programming skills and access to expensive institutional-grade software.

Level2's platform addresses this gap directly. Its no-code strategy builder allows users to visually construct complex trading logic by connecting blocks that represent different rules and actions—such as "buy 10 shares of AAPL if its 50-day moving average crosses above the 200-day moving average." This visual approach lowers the technical threshold, allowing traders to focus on the strategy itself rather than the intricacies of coding.

A crucial component of the offering is the ability to backtest strategies against historical market data. This feature, known as Real-Time Backtesting & Replay, lets investors see how their ideas would have performed in the past, helping them refine rules and manage expectations before risking real capital. Once a strategy is validated, it can be deployed to run seamlessly in the background, executing trades automatically based on its predefined logic.

Navigating a Competitive Fintech Landscape

While groundbreaking for Public's platform, the move into no-code algorithmic trading places the company in an increasingly competitive arena. Several other fintech firms, such as Capitalise.ai, which translates plain English into trading algorithms, and Composer, which also offers a visual strategy builder, are vying for the attention of the sophisticated retail trader. These platforms have already proven there is significant demand for tools that simplify automated investing.

However, the key competitive advantage for the Level2 and Public partnership is its deep integration. Unlike standalone services that require users to connect their brokerage accounts via APIs—a process that can be cumbersome and introduce security concerns—Level2's tools will operate directly within the Public ecosystem. This seamless experience reduces friction and could be a deciding factor for many users who value convenience and a unified platform for all their investing activities.

This model is a prime example of the "embedded finance" trend, where specialized financial services are woven directly into consumer-facing platforms. By embedding Level2's capabilities, Public not only enhances its own feature set but also creates a more compelling and sticky product, making it harder for users to switch to a competitor.

The Double-Edged Sword of Automation

For all its promise, the widespread availability of automated trading tools brings a new set of opportunities and considerable risks. The primary benefit of automation is discipline. Algorithms are immune to the fear and greed that often lead human traders to make poor, emotionally-driven decisions. They can monitor markets 24/7 and execute trades with a speed and precision that is humanly impossible.

However, this power is a double-edged sword. A common pitfall is over-optimization, where a strategy is so finely tuned to past data that it performs perfectly in backtests but fails spectacularly in live, unpredictable market conditions. Furthermore, algorithms are only as smart as their creators. They follow rules rigidly and may not adapt well to sudden market shocks or "black swan" events, potentially leading to rapid and substantial losses.

The history of financial markets contains stark cautionary tales. The 2010 "Flash Crash" and the infamous 2012 Knight Capital incident, where a software glitch caused the firm to lose $440 million in under an hour, serve as powerful reminders of the dangers of runaway algorithms. While the scale is different for a retail investor, the underlying risk of technical failure or flawed logic remains.

Regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) are watching this space closely. FINRA already requires professionals who design trading algorithms at member firms to pass a qualification exam, and it is widely expected that regulatory frameworks will continue to evolve to address the unique challenges posed by AI and automation in the hands of retail investors. Platforms like Public and Level2 will face increasing pressure to provide robust risk management guardrails and comprehensive educational resources to ensure users understand the tools they are wielding.

As part of the launch, Level2 is offering a six-month free trial to new members, a move designed to spur adoption and allow users to experiment without an initial financial commitment. This period will be critical for gathering user feedback and observing how retail investors interact with these powerful new capabilities. The partnership represents a bold step forward in financial technology, one that places more power than ever before into the hands of the individual investor, along with the profound responsibility that comes with it.