Engineering and Technology
| Open Access | Adaptive Cloud-Based Deep Reinforcement Learning Architectures for Dynamic Portfolio Risk Prediction and Intelligent Asset Allocation
Philip K. Holliday , Department of Finance and Data Science, University of Debrecen, HungaryAbstract
The rapid digital transformation of global financial markets has fundamentally altered the dynamics of portfolio construction, risk assessment, and asset allocation. Traditional portfolio theories, although foundational, were developed in environments characterized by relatively low data velocity, limited market microstructure complexity, and minimal computational adaptability. In contrast, modern markets operate under conditions of extreme volatility, high dimensionality, and continuous feedback loops driven by algorithmic and high frequency trading. This paradigm shift has created an urgent need for adaptive, intelligent, and scalable portfolio management frameworks capable of learning from complex, nonstationary financial environments in real time. Deep reinforcement learning has emerged as a leading paradigm in this domain, offering the ability to integrate sequential decision making, nonlinear representation learning, and dynamic optimization under uncertainty. However, despite substantial progress in algorithmic trading and portfolio optimization, a persistent gap remains between theoretical deep reinforcement learning models and their practical deployment in cloud-based, risk-aware portfolio management systems.
This study addresses that gap by developing and theoretically validating an adaptive cloud-based deep reinforcement learning framework for dynamic portfolio risk prediction and asset allocation. The framework draws conceptual inspiration from recent intelligent cloud architectures that integrate reinforcement learning with scalable computational infrastructure, most notably the intelligent cloud framework for dynamic portfolio risk prediction proposed by Mirza and colleagues in a recent IEEE conference contribution (Mirza et al., 2025). Building upon this foundational work, the present study extends the conceptual scope by embedding risk-sensitive policy learning, correlation-aware state representations, and multi-temporal portfolio rebalancing within a unified cloud-native architecture. The central premise of the article is that portfolio risk is not a static property but an evolving construct shaped by market regimes, investor behavior, and structural feedback loops, and that only learning systems capable of continuous adaptation can meaningfully manage this complexity.
Keywords
Deep reinforcement learning, portfolio risk prediction, cloud computing, algorithmic trading
References
Raffin, A., Hill, A., Gleave, A., Kanervisto, A., Ernestus, M., and Dormann, N. 2021. Stable-Baselines3: Reliable Reinforcement Learning Implementations. Journal of Machine Learning Research, 22, 1–8.
Mirza, M. H., Budaraju, A., Valiveti, S. S. S., Sarma, W., Kaur, H., and Malik, V. 2025. Intelligent Cloud Framework for Dynamic Portfolio Risk Prediction Using Deep Reinforcement Learning. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computing.
Ta, V. D., Liu, C. M., and Tadesse, D. A. 2020. Portfolio optimization-based stock prediction using long short-term memory network in quantitative trading. Applied Sciences, 10, 437.
Wang, M., and Ku, H. 2022. Risk-sensitive policies for portfolio management. Expert Systems with Applications, 198, 11680.
Moody, J., and Saffell, M. 2001. Learning to trade via direct reinforcement. IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, 12, 875–889.
Sebastian, O., Linan, D., and Jorg, R. 2021. Reinforcement learning about asset variability and correlation in repeated portfolio decisions. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 32, 100559.
Rao, N., Aljalbout, E., Sauer, A., and Haddadin, S. 2020. How to make deep reinforcement learning work in practice.
Pigorsch, U., and Schafer, S. 2022. High-dimensional stock portfolio trading with deep reinforcement learning. IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Financial Engineering and Economics.
Wiering, M., and Otterlo, M. 2012. Reinforcement Learning: State of the Art. Springer.
Xu, W., and Dai, B. 2022. Delta-gamma-like hedging with transaction cost under reinforcement learning technique. Journal of Derivatives, 29, 60–82.
Markowitz, H. 1952. Portfolio selection. Journal of Finance, 7, 77–91.
Jiang, Z., Xu, D., Liang, Y., Hong, Z., and Wang, J. 2021. Deep reinforcement learning for trading. Journal of Financial Markets, 54, 100573.
Sharpe, W. F. 1998. The Sharpe ratio. Journal of Portfolio Management.
Qureshi, F., Kutan, A. M., Ismail, I., and Gee, C. S. 2017. Mutual funds and stock market volatility. Emerging Markets Review, 31, 176–192.
Shavandia, A., and Khedmati, M. 2022. A multi-agent deep reinforcement learning framework for algorithmic trading. Expert Systems with Applications, 208, 118124.
Sutton, R. S., and Barto, A. G. 2018. Reinforcement learning: An introduction. MIT Press.
Fischer, T., and Krauss, C. 2018. Deep learning with long short-term memory networks for financial market predictions. European Journal of Operational Research, 270, 654–669.
Rubesam, A. 2022. Machine learning portfolios with equal risk contributions. Emerging Markets Review, 51, 100891.
Sun, S., Wang, R., He, X., Zhu, J., Li, J., and An, B. 2021. Deepscalper: A risk-aware deep reinforcement learning framework for intraday trading.
Ledoit, O., and Wolf, M. 2004. Honey, I shrunk the sample covariance matrix. Journal of Portfolio Management, 30, 110–119.
Download and View Statistics
Copyright License
Copyright (c) 2025 Philip K. Holliday

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain the copyright of their manuscripts, and all Open Access articles are disseminated under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC-BY), which licenses unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is appropriately cited. The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations.

