Optiq

Vibe coding an experimental AI fintech prototype

Tools & Skills

Vibe Coding, Interaction Design, Cursor, Figma

Problem

Fintech democratized access without expertise

Fintech gave billions of people access to financial markets. Expanded access did not come with knowledge, and in options trading that gap has been costly.

Individual investors represent 22% of total options market volume, an all-time high.

JP Morgan Equity Strategy & Quantitative Research

-$2,100,000,000

Individual investors lost $2.1 billion in options trading between November 2019 and June 2021.

Bryzgalova et al., London Business School (2022)

Individual investors represent 22% of total options market volume, an all-time high then.

JP Morgan Equity Strategy & Quantitative Research

-$2,100,000,000

Individual investors lost $2.1 billion in options trading between November 2019 and June 2021.

Bryzgalova et al., London Business School (2022)

Tools & Skills

Vibe coding, Interaction Design, Cursor, Figma

Solution

Optiq democratizes intelligent and personal options expertise

Optiq is an experimental AI experience that helps you make smarter options trades. It takes professional methods and makes them accessible and personal.

Vibe coding

I used Figma and Cursor to build without compromising the design process

I found this combination to be the most effective for maintaining design context and precise control over components.

Backend

A backend that combines finance math with AI-powered interpretation

I left repeatable and predictable financial equations to plain code, and reserved AI for interpretative and generative uses, like comparing the equation outcome with the investor's profile.

Diagram showing how the various parts of the web-app connect.

Flow 1

A personal and human investor profile

Optiq gathers quantitative and qualitative data to form an investor profile. This allows AI to surface insights that feel both pragmatic and human.

Flow 2

Simple thesis creation

Amateur investors struggle to form theses, an important part of trading. I made forming them fast and easy.

Flow 3

Personalized and informative insights and strategies

Amateur investors struggle knowing how to judge the quality of their trade ideas. Optiq simplifies that decision by combining the investor’s profile and thesis to surface relevant insights and rank the best trade methods through a scoring system.

The expected move component reveals how your anticipated move compares to the market’s.

An example insight component showing volatility metrics for your stock, revealing whether your option is expensive or cheap.

We score each strategy by combining your investor profile with market and investing data.

We score each strategy by measuring criteria across your profile, thesis, and market context.

Each total score is composed of many metrics added up.

To get the total score, we measure criteria such as whether the strategy fits the size and type of move you expect, and whether it aligns with your investor profile.

Reflections

Lessons about designing and building with AI

More optionality

The ability to easily turn sketches and ideas into prototypes lets you spend more time exploring multiple directions before developing a single one.

A senior developer's wisdom is irreplaceable

AI automating developer tasks helped me build on my own, but it did not replace the wisdom and experience that senior developers provide—knowing which approach is best, pushing back on design directions that invite complexity, and more.

Optiq

Vibecoding an experimental AI fintech prototype