Two Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) models, DeepSeek and Alibaba’s Qwen, have taken a commanding lead over their Western counterparts in a live cryptocurrency trading competition, posting triple-digit gains in less than two weeks.
According to Alpha Arena, a real-market trading challenge launched by US research firm Nof1, DeepSeek’s Chat V3.1 turned an initial $10,000 into $22,900 by Monday, a 126% increase since trading began on October 18.
In stark contrast, Western models lagged far behind. OpenAI’s GPT-5 posted the worst performance, losing nearly 60% of its portfolio, while Google DeepMind’s Gemini 2.5 Pro showed a similar 57% decline. xAI’s Grok 4 and Anthropic’s Claude 4.5 Sonnet fared slightly better, returning 14% and 23% respectively.
Qwen 3 Max, developed by Alibaba Group Holding, followed closely with a 108% return, doubling its capital to US$20,850.
Their goal is to maximize returns by trading major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Dogecoin (DOGE) through algorithmic decision-making and adaptive strategies.
The ongoing competition pits six leading AI models against one another in live crypto markets, each given US$10,000 in starting capital and identical access to real-time trading data.
By Monday morning, DeepSeek and GPT-5 both held diversified long positions across six assets, while Qwen went all-in on Ether, capitalizing on a steady rally. The gains for the Chinese models coincided with Bitcoin’s rebound to around $114,000 and Ethereum’s recovery after weeks of volatility.
“Our goal with Alpha Arena is to make benchmarks more like the real world — and markets are perfect for this,” Nof1 said on its website.