Artificial intelligence (AI)-based models have emerged as powerful tools in financial markets, capable of reducing investment risks and aiding in selecting highly profitable stocks by achieving precise predictions. This holds immense value for investors, as it empowers them to make data-driven decisions. Identifying current and future trends in multi-class forecasting techniques employed within financial markets, particularly profitability analysis as an evaluation metric is important. The review focuses on examining studies conducted between 2018 and 2023, sourced from three prominent academic databases. A meticulous three-stage approach was em-ployed, encompassing the systematic planning, conduct, and analysis of the selected studies. Specifically, the analysis emphasizes technical assessment, profitability analysis, hybrid modeling, and the type of re-sults generated by models. Articles were shortlisted based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, while a rigorous quality assessment through ten quality criteria questions, utilizing a Likert-type scale was employed to ensure methodological robustness. We observed that ensemble and hybrid models with long short-term memory (LSTM) and support vector machines (SVM) are being more adopted for financial trends and price prediction. Moreover, hybrid models employing AI algorithms for feature engineering have great potential at par with ensemble techniques. Most studies only employ performance metrics and lack utilization of profitability metrics or investment or trading strategy (simulated or real-time). Similarly, research on multi-class or output is severely lacking in financial forecasting and can be a good avenue for future research.
INDEX TERMS Artificial intelligence; financial forecasting; deep learning; stock market analysis; convolution neural network; cryptocurrency
I. INTRODUCTIONF ORECASTING asset prices in financial markets pose significant challenges due to the intricate interplay of various micro and macroeconomic attributes that influence price formation including political events, news, and company financial statements. These multifaceted factors contribute to the non-linearity and non-stationarity observed in the market, thereby intensifying the complexity of the proposed task. Consequently, market analysis is conducted to study these influences, aiming to predict future market trends and support decision-making based on market behavior.There are various types of financial markets such as the stock market, foreign exchange, commodities, and cryptocurrency. Stock markets offer a diverse range of instruments, such as stocks, bonds, and derivatives, that can be used for both long-term and short-term capital generation [1].