Portfolio Optimization and Risk Management In Financial Markets 

A special issue of Mathematics (ISSN 2227-7390). This special issue belongs to the section "E5: Financial Mathematics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 1325

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Economics and Management, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
Interests: financial mathematics; financial engineering; financial technology; big data; machine learning and its applications
School of Mathematical Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
Interests: statistical prediction; decision-making; optimization method

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Mathematics and Statistics, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang, China
Interests: portfolio investment; venture risk model development and validation; AI-integrated financial modeling
School of Economics and Management, Jingdezhen University, Jingdezhen, China
Interests: financial big data analytics and artificial intelligence

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Global financial markets are undergoing a period of unprecedented transformation. The deep integration of artificial intelligence, the rapid diffusion of market sentiment through digital channels, the growing frequency of geopolitical disruptions, and the widespread deployment of automated trading systems are collectively reshaping the logic and structure of financial systems.

In the face of escalating uncertainty and increasingly heterogeneous information environments, traditional models of portfolio construction and risk management are no longer sufficient. There is a pressing need to rethink and reconstruct foundational theories and methodologies to meet the challenges of modern markets.

Against this backdrop, portfolio optimization and risk management remain central to financial decision-making, while also giving rise to a broad spectrum of new and complex research questions. This Special Issue aims to capture the latest theoretical and practical advancements in this domain, with particular emphasis on—but not limited to—the following emerging topics:

  • AI- and machine learning–based portfolio construction and factor discovery;
  • Market sentiment modeling, social media analytics, and behavior-driven investment strategies;
  • Real-time risk control in automated trading systems and high-frequency financial environments;
  • Applications of reinforcement learning and robust optimization under uncertainty;
  • Multi-objective investing in the context of sustainable finance and ESG considerations;
  • Transmission mechanisms of geopolitical risk and systemic shocks in asset allocation strategies;
  • New frameworks for assessing investment risk in digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and stable coins;
  • Reassessment and adaptation of traditional risk models in response to structural changes in the market;
  • Cross-market portfolio management involving multi-asset and multi-region coordination;
  • Fintech-driven innovations in risk forecasting tools and evaluation methodologies.

We welcome original contributions from scholars in finance, artificial intelligence, econometrics, operations research, and systems science. The goal of this Special Issue is to promote cutting-edge research that advances the theory and practice of financial decision-making in an increasingly intelligent and complex world.

Prof. Dr. Chengli Zheng
Dr. Wenze Wu
Dr. Kuangxi Su
Dr. Qing Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Mathematics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • portfolio optimization
  • risk management
  • AI in finance
  • reinforcement learning and robust optimization
  • market sentiment modeling
  • automated trading systems
  • high-frequency finance
  • ESG and sustainable investing
  • financial uncertainty modeling
  • crypto assets and digital finance

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

21 pages, 2881 KB  
Article
Risk-Sensitive Reinforcement Learning for Portfolio Optimization Under Stochastic Market Dynamics
by Binod Kumar Mishra, Munish Kumar, Hashmat Fida and Branimir Kalaš
Mathematics 2026, 14(8), 1334; https://doi.org/10.3390/math14081334 - 16 Apr 2026
Viewed by 779
Abstract
Portfolio optimization is one of the most difficult sequential decision problems, as uncertainty and the non-stationary nature of financial markets hinder the development of robust strategies. Reinforcement learning is an attractive framework for addressing this problem, as it allows agents to learn market-adaptive [...] Read more.
Portfolio optimization is one of the most difficult sequential decision problems, as uncertainty and the non-stationary nature of financial markets hinder the development of robust strategies. Reinforcement learning is an attractive framework for addressing this problem, as it allows agents to learn market-adaptive strategies through data-driven interactions. However, existing risk-neutral reinforcement learning solutions for portfolio management are oblivious to downside risk and are mainly concerned with maximizing returns. To address this limitation, this paper proposes a novel risk-sensitive reinforcement learning framework for risk-aware portfolio optimization based on a conditional value-at-risk-based learning objective that explicitly controls extreme loss events. It formulates the portfolio optimization problem as a Markov decision process and solves it using a linearized actor–critic architecture. It also develops theoretical results to analyze important aspects of the learning process, specifically proving that the convexity of the conditional value-at-risk-based formulation and convergence of learning hold under standard assumptions. The proposed algorithm is applied in a realistic investment setting using NIFTY 50 market data. Quantitative results from a rolling window backtesting methodology show that the proposed model achieves the best risk-adjusted portfolio performance, i.e., a Sharpe ratio (0.610), while significantly reducing tail risk, as measured by the conditional value-at-risk (−0.121) and maximum drawdown (−0.198), compared to classical strategies and risk-neutral reinforcement learning solutions. Overall, the results demonstrate that integrating coherent risk measures into reinforcement learning provides an effective approach for developing robust and risk-aware portfolio optimization strategies in dynamic financial environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Portfolio Optimization and Risk Management In Financial Markets )
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop