Introducing MyArtBroker's Algorithm: SingularityX
MAB100 © MyArtBroker 2023
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Meet SingularityX, our groundbreaking pricing product that aims to revolutionise the art world by bringing transparency, data-driven insights, and liquidity to the enigmatic prints and multiples market.
The art market, especially in the blue chip prints and multiples segment, has been shrouded in opacity and uncertainty. SingularityX, our algorithm, aims to revolutionise the art world by bringing an unprecedented level of transparency to the art market.
Developed by MyArtBroker, SingularityX leverages a comprehensive array of data points, far beyond traditional auction results, to produce a precise valuation of artworks. By acting as a market maker and bridging the gap between buyers and sellers, this groundbreaking algorithm aims to dispel the opacity that has long plagued the art market, offering a data-driven approach that empowers collectors and transforms the way art is bought and sold.
What is SingularityX?
SingularityX is the algorithm which serves as the engine behind MyPortfolio and the MAB100, MyArtBroker’s dedicated print market index. By integrating the algorithm’s data-first insights and extensive valuation metrics, MyPortfolio offers collectors an unparalleled level of control and market understanding. This synergy enables users to not only track the value of their collections in real time, but also to make informed decisions when it comes to buying or selling blue chip prints and editions. SingularityX elevates MyPortfolio to a tool of precision, embodying MyArtBroker’s commitment to scalable, controllable, and predictable art transactions.
Likewise, SingularityX seamlessly integrates with MyArtBroker’s Trading Floor, creating a symbiotic relationship that transforms the art trading landscape. The algorithm’s data-directed valuations provide the foundation for transparent and accurate pricing on the Trading Floor, enabling a marketplace where both buyers and sellers can engage with confidence. Powering MyPortfolio and the MAB100, SingularityX empowers collectors with the tools they need to navigate the market with unparalleled control and transparency - a first in the blue chip art market.
Founder, Ian Syer and Managing Director, Charlotte Stewart introduce SingularityX, the MyPortfolio algorithm. In this interview, Syer and Stewart delve into the algorithm’s transformative potential to dispel long-standing opacity in the art market:
Q: What is the problem that SingularityX is trying to solve in the art market?
A: Charlotte Stewart (CS): SingularityX seeks to solve several issues collectors, or art sellers, encounter when looking to make decisions - there are several critical challenges when looking to buy and sell in the secondary art market.
Ian Syer (IS): The major issue is a total lack of transparency. One of the primary issues I’ve faced as a collector myself is true visibility regarding the true market value of art. Owners may possess valuable pieces, from Banksy to Lowry, but struggle to understand why a print is worth a certain amount. Current market information often boils down to what similar pieces are being auctioned for, leaving us as collectors in the dark.
Q: What data is already out there regarding art pricing?
A: CS: Data on art pricing predominantly originates from auction houses. However, this poses a dilemma, as these houses have a vested interest in achieving high prices (or low ones, with reserve strategies) and taking its fee off both sides of the deal. This inherent bias in data sources can mislead collectors. Furthermore, the auction houses also typically only sell approximately 34% of what is being bought and sold in the marketplace offering only a fraction of the picture.
IS: The art market's data is heavily guarded and not readily available. Relying solely on auction house data limits the understanding of an artwork's true value, which extends well beyond the confines of the auction block. Collectors regularly only have the previous two to three auction results to work from, if they’re lucky, when looking to value their work.
Determining the current market price for an artwork can be a cumbersome process. Collectors must contact multiple auction houses, dealers, brokers, show their works, and speak to several salespeople before they get more information than the latest auction results. This lack of simplicity and trust in the process hampers price discovery, decision making and confidence.
Q: What’s different about SingularityX versus other art market trackers?
A: CS: SingularityX aims to resolve these pervasive issues in the art market through a multifaceted approach - namely more diverse data points than used elsewhere in the market.
Possibly the most important component - and the most unique in the market - is that SingularityX leverages a vast array of data inputs. It goes beyond historical pricing by considering private sales pricing, artists' trends, and related print series, including prices for alternative colourways, artists proofs, printers proofs and corresponding portfolios.
By incorporating these data points, SingularityX builds a comprehensive picture of an artwork's value. It strives to include overlooked data points, such as the last bid price on unsold works, the sell through rates within series: all key markers towards a work’s value.
IS: The algo is much more robust than other models, it even factors in different types of volatility, both historical and forward-looking. In that way SingularityX acts as a market maker, a crucial role in an illiquid market. By providing both synthetic bid and ask prices, coupled with the trading floor which adds supply and demand in the private marketplace, it injects liquidity into the market, bridging the gap between buyers and sellers. These additional data points provide a much more comprehensive understanding of an artwork's worth.
Q: What do you hope SingularityX will do for the prints and multiples art market?
A: IS: I hope it will bring transparency for all parties involved. The art market will no longer be the exclusive domain of insiders. With SingularityX, transparency becomes the norm.
The illiquid nature of the art market poses challenges, but SingularityX, as a market maker, will narrow bid-ask spreads and increase liquidity. This benefits buyers and sellers alike, making the market more dynamic.
CS: I hope that the data-driven approach fosters credibility and trust within the art world, erasing the shadow of opacity and enhancing the market's reputation - particularly in the prints market.
SingularityX is not just a product; it's a collaborative effort driven by a team of experts from across the art, tech and data industries. SingularityX is poised to revolutionise the prints and multiples blue chip art market. It offers unprecedented transparency, liquidity, and confidence, empowering collectors and reshaping the art world into a more accessible and credible space for all. As SingularityX continues to refine its data inputs and algorithms, the art market may never be the same again, and collectors can confidently navigate the fascinating world of art with newfound clarity.
SingularityX: Industry Experts & Data Science Revolutionises Art Market Valuations
The team behind SingularityX is led by Ian and Joe Syer. Both collectors and print specialists themselves, they set up MyArtBroker 15 years ago: a platform specialising in modern and contemporary prints and editions.
In the last 5 years Charlotte Stewart joined the team directly from 10 years at Christie’s. An ex-financial quant has created the mathematical algorithms that underpin SingularityX's pricing models. Their theoretical mathematics provides the foundation for the platform's data-driven insights. In addition, a python developer - a computer scientist, who translates mathematical theory into a practical, user-friendly computer application - ensures that SingularityX is accessible and efficient for art collectors.
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