For Robo-Advisers, the Next Bear Market Is Make or Break
It's going to be a big test.
An employee, left, interacts with Pepper the humanoid robot, manufactured by SoftBank Group Corp.
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Robo-advisers might have more reasons to be worried about the next bear market than investors do.
Low fees and an investing-on-autopilot approach have attracted about $50 billion in assets to the broad universe of robo-advisers, according to researcher Aite Group LLC. The rise of these robots and their automated investment strategies has largely coincided with a multi-year bull run in stocks, which means the nascent industry could face a big test if markets were to turn.