# LEMs: A Primer On Large Execution Models

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.25211 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.25211/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 12 of its 26 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 21 Sep 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Fast and Accurate Deep Network Learning by Exponential Linear Units (ELUs)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.07289/) (2015)
- [Temporal Fusion Transformers for Interpretable Multi-horizon Time Series Forecasting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.09363/) (2019)
- [Language Modeling with Gated Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.08083/) (2016)
- [KAN: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.19756/) (2024)
- [Enhancing the Locality and Breaking the Memory Bottleneck of Transformer on Time Series Forecasting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.00235/) (2019)
- [Understanding LSTM -- a tutorial into Long Short-Term Memory Recurrent Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.09586/) (2019)
- [TKAN: Temporal Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.07344/) (2024)
- [A Temporal Kolmogorov-Arnold Transformer for Time Series Forecasting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.02486/) (2024)
- [Deep Learning for VWAP Execution in Crypto Markets: Beyond the Volume Curve](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.13722/) (2025)
- [Recurrent Neural Networks for Dynamic VWAP Execution: Adaptive Trading Strategies with Temporal Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.18177/) (2025)
- [VWAP Execution with Signature-Enhanced Transformers: A Multi-Asset Learning Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.02680/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [When AI Trading Agents Compete: Adverse Selection of Meta-Orders by Reinforcement Learning-Based Market Making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.27334/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper introduces Large Execution Models (LEMs), a novel deep learning framework that extends transformer-based architectures to address complex execution problems with flexible time boundaries and multiple execution constraints. Building upon recent advances in neural VWAP execution strategies, LEMs generalize the approach from fixed-duration orders to scenarios where execution duration is bounded between minimum and maximum time horizons, similar to share buyback contract structures. The proposed architecture decouples market information processing from execution allocation decisions: a common feature extraction pipeline using Temporal Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (TKANs), Variable Selection Networks (VSNs), and multi-head attention mechanisms processes market data to create informational context, while independent allocation networks handle the specific execution logic for different scenarios (fixed quantity vs. fixed notional, buy vs. sell orders). This architectural separation enables a unified model to handle diverse execution objectives while leveraging shared market understanding across scenarios. Through comprehensive empirical evaluation on intraday cryptocurrency markets and multi-day equity trading using DOW Jones constituents, we demonstrate that LEMs achieve superior execution performance compared to traditional benchmarks by dynamically optimizing execution paths within flexible time constraints. The unified model architecture enables deployment across different execution scenarios (buy/sell orders, varying duration boundaries, volume/notional targets) through a single framework, providing significant operational advantages over asset-specific approaches.