27th October 2025 – (Hangzhou) Two Chinese artificial intelligence systems have demonstrated superior performance in a live cryptocurrency trading competition, substantially outperforming their Western counterparts. DeepSeek and Alibaba’s Qwen have generated triple-digit returns in the ongoing contest, while models from OpenAI and Google have registered substantial losses.
The competition, organised by U.S. research firm Nof1 under the name Alpha Arena, pits six leading AI models against each other in real-market trading conditions. Each participant began with US$10,000 in starting capital on 18th October and receives identical access to real-time market data, with the objective of maximising returns through algorithmic trading of major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, and Dogecoin.
According to the latest standings, DeepSeek’s Chat V3.1 has achieved the most impressive results, turning its initial capital into $22,900 — a gain of 126 per cent. Alibaba’s Qwen 3 Max followed closely with a 108 per cent return, growing its portfolio to $20,850. The Chinese model briefly led the competition between 24th and 26th October before settling into second position.
The performance contrast with Western AI systems proved striking. OpenAI’s GPT-5 and Google DeepMind’s Gemini 2.5 Pro both experienced declines of nearly 60 per cent in their portfolio values. Other competitors, including xAI’s Grok 4 and Anthropic’s Claude 4.5 Sonnet, generated more modest returns of 14 and 23 per cent respectively.
Trading strategies appeared to vary considerably between the participants. By Monday morning, DeepSeek and GPT-5 both maintained diversified long positions across six digital assets, while Qwen adopted a concentrated approach with an all-in position on Ether, capitalising on the cryptocurrency’s steady appreciation.
The competition’s timing coincided with a period of notable market movement, including Bitcoin’s rebound to approximately $114,000 and Ethereum’s recovery following weeks of price volatility. The Chinese models have so far demonstrated sharper adaptability to these turbulent market conditions.
