Gain deep insight into a rapidly growing area at the crossroads of AI, finance, technology, and economics.
Prediction markets allow everyday traders to buy and sell "Yes or No" outcome contracts on real-world events—like whether the Bank of Canada will hike interest rates in 2026 or if oil will drop below $55 USD next month. Unlike traditional sportsbooks where you bet against a bookmaker who sets fixed odds with a built-in house margin, prediction markets operate like peer-to-peer stock exchanges where prices adjust dynamically based on real-time supply and demand, offering flexible, cash-out-anytime trading across economic, political, and commodity forecasts.
Join Professor Park as he unpacks these dynamic trading platforms. The session covers their history, key differences from traditional bookmakers, advantages, and drawbacks. Attendees will gain deep insight into a rapidly growing area at the crossroads of AI, finance, technology, and economics. The session includes a presentation followed by a live moderated Q&A, where you'll have the chance to submit your own questions.
Speaker Bio

Andreas Park’s research spans both empirical and theoretical topics in financial markets. His empirical work examines issues such as the market impact of maker-taker pricing, dark orders, and high-frequency trading, while his theoretical research explores topics including herd behaviour in financial markets and the effects of different trading mechanisms. His work has been published in leading academic journals, including Econometrica, the Journal of Finance, and the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.
Andreas has received, and served as an affiliate on, numerous research grants, including funding from the ESRC, SSHRC, and GRI. He has also served as Co-Director of the Master of Financial Economics program at the University of Toronto and teaches courses in Market Microstructure, Trading, Investments, Asset Pricing, and Corporate Finance.
His current research focuses primarily on high-frequency trading and recent changes to market structure in Canadian markets. Andreas is also a member of the Ontario Securities Commission’s Market Structure Advisory Committee.
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Contact UTM Alumni Relations at alumni.utm@utoronto.ca
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