Two Chinese artificial intelligence systems — DeepSeek and Alibaba’s Qwen 3 Max — have outperformed global competitors in a real-time cryptocurrency trading challenge, achieving remarkable gains in less than two weeks.
Highlights:
- DeepSeek AI posted a 126% profit, growing its initial $10,000 investment to $22,900.
- Qwen 3 Max from Alibaba secured a 108% return, lifting its balance to $20,850.
- OpenAI’s GPT-5 and Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro both saw portfolio losses of nearly 60%.
- The trading contest, called Alpha Arena, is organized by U.S. research company Nof1.
According to Nof1, Alpha Arena aims to evaluate how top AI models perform in real-world trading environments. Each model began with the same $10,000 starting capital and equal access to live market data while executing trades in popular digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Dogecoin (DOGE).
DeepSeek and Qwen Take the Lead
Since trading began on October 18, DeepSeek’s “Chat V3.1” model has maintained the top spot, showing exceptional adaptability to market volatility. Alibaba’s Qwen briefly overtook DeepSeek between October 24–26 but later slipped to second place.
Meanwhile, Western-developed systems lagged behind. GPT-5 recorded the steepest drop, while Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro also saw heavy losses. xAI’s Grok 4 managed a modest 14% gain, and Anthropic’s Claude 4.5 Sonnet ended up 23% higher.
Nof1 stated that Alpha Arena is designed to simulate “real-world benchmarks,” with the crypto markets providing an ideal testing ground due to their fast-moving and unpredictable nature.
Market Context
The contest coincides with a rebound in major cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin climbing to about $114,000 and Ethereum recovering from recent dips. DeepSeek and GPT-5 maintained diversified long positions across several coins, while Qwen focused primarily on Ether, which paid off during the rally.
DeepSeek’s Bold Market Outlook
DeepSeek AI has also released a forecast suggesting significant upside potential for Ethereum, Cardano, and XRP over the next year.
The model anticipates Ethereum could rise to between $12,000 and $15,000, citing its key role in decentralized finance and expectations of friendlier crypto policies under the Trump administration. Cardano’s ADA is projected to reach $7–$10 by late 2025, supported by developer growth, while XRP could target $10 if regulatory clarity continues to improve following Ripple’s legal win against the SEC.
Despite short-term volatility driven by trade tensions, DeepSeek interprets the current correction as a healthy reset — one that could fuel a new phase of the ongoing crypto bull cycle.
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