DeepSeek and Alibaba's Qwen Beat OpenAI ChatGPT in Crypto Trading Contest

Chinese AI models are taking the global stage by storm. In a surprising twist, DeepSeek and Alibaba’s Qwen outperformed their Western rivals, including OpenAI’s GPT-5 and Google DeepMind’s Gemini, in a live crypto trading competition. 

The contest, organized by U.S. research firm Nof1 under its “Alpha Arena” initiative, has become one of the most talked-about AI performance tests in 2025, blending artificial intelligence, market strategy, and cryptocurrency.

The Rise of DeepSeek and Qwen in Crypto Trading

Over the course of less than two weeks, DeepSeek’s Chat V3.1 transformed its initial $10,000 investment into an impressive $22,900 — a 126% gain. 

Meanwhile, Alibaba’s Qwen 3 Max doubled its capital to $20,850, recording a 108% profit. These results stunned the global AI community, showing that Chinese AI innovation is not only advancing in language models but also excelling in financial decision-making and trading intelligence.

By contrast, OpenAI’s GPT-5 suffered a 60% portfolio loss, while Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro dropped around 57%, proving that traditional Western AI frameworks may still struggle to adapt in highly volatile and real-time crypto markets.

Read also : DeepSeek v3.1 vs ChatGPT-5: The Shocking AI Test Results You Need to See!

Inside the Alpha Arena Trading Challenge

The Alpha Arena is a real-market crypto trading competition created to evaluate how autonomous AI agents perform under live market pressure. 

Each participant — including DeepSeek, Qwen, GPT-5, Gemini 2.5 Pro, Anthropic’s Claude 4.5, and X’s Grok 4 — started with $10,000 in capital. They traded major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Dogecoin (DOGE) using algorithmic and adaptive trading strategies.

All AI systems had identical data access and trading environments, emphasizing their strategy, learning ability, and risk management over data advantages. 

Within days, DeepSeek began gaining an edge with an adaptive learning algorithm that adjusted positions in response to market sentiment, while Qwen leveraged Ethereum’s strong mid-October rebound to fuel its rapid profit climb.

Read also : How to Use AI to Get Free Crypto: Can AI Really Make Money from Crypto?

Market Conditions and Strategy Insights

The timing of the contest proved crucial. During the competition, Bitcoin rebounded to nearly $114,000, while Ethereum recovered sharply after weeks of high volatility. DeepSeek and GPT-5 both diversified across six assets, but Qwen took a riskier, more concentrated bet — going all in on Ethereum (ETH). 

The gamble paid off as Ether rallied steadily, boosting Qwen’s total gain to over 100%.

What separated DeepSeek from the rest was its ability to blend macro sentiment analysis with short-term momentum trading, an approach usually reserved for human hedge fund strategies. 

Analysts from the Nof1 research team noted that DeepSeek’s trade logs indicated a dynamic adjustment process resembling reinforcement learning, suggesting it continuously evolved based on market performance rather than pre-set commands.

Read also : How to Use AI for Crypto Trading: A Practical Guide

Why This Competition Matters

This contest is more than just a trading challenge — it’s a signal of how far AI has progressed in quantitative finance. The strong showing from DeepSeek and Qwen highlights China’s growing influence in AI-powered financial technology, an area once dominated by the United States. 

The ability of AI models to operate independently, execute trades in milliseconds, and adjust to global macro events could reshape crypto investing in the years to come.

Additionally, the results reignited debates about AI’s ethical and regulatory oversight in finance, particularly as these systems begin to outperform traditional algorithmic trading models. 

The Nof1 Alpha Arena plans to continue the experiment, allowing developers and researchers to refine their systems for future rounds.

Read also : AI Trading Bots for Cryptocurrency: The Future of Automated Trading

DeepSeek’s Bold Crypto Forecast for 2026

Following its strong performance, DeepSeek’s team made a bullish prediction for early 2026. The AI model forecasts substantial rallies in Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), and XRP, despite ongoing market uncertainty triggered by U.S. tariff news from President Donald Trump’s administration. DeepSeek believes this correction phase will fuel renewed investor confidence and lead to a robust recovery in altcoin markets.

This forward-looking stance echoes similar forecasts made by financial analytics platforms that predict an expanding altcoin season heading into mid-2026. While skeptics question AI’s predictive reliability, DeepSeek’s track record is beginning to speak for itself.

The Future of AI in Crypto Finance

The recent success of DeepSeek and Qwen in live market conditions may mark the beginning of a new era in decentralized finance (DeFi) and algorithmic asset management. As AI trading bots evolve, traders could soon rely less on human emotional decision-making and more on autonomous intelligence capable of reacting faster than any investor ever could.

While Western AI developers are likely to respond with improved systems, the global race for financial AI dominance is clearly intensifying — and this time, China has taken the lead.

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FAQs

What is DeepSeek in crypto trading?

DeepSeek is a Chinese AI model designed for financial analysis and algorithmic trading, known for outperforming other AI systems in live crypto markets.

How did Alibaba’s Qwen beat ChatGPT in trading?

Qwen achieved over 100% profit by focusing on Ethereum trades during a market rebound, showing superior real-time trading adaptation.

What is the Alpha Arena crypto trading contest?

Alpha Arena is a live AI trading competition organized by Nof1, where leading AI models trade major cryptocurrencies with real capital.

Why did GPT-5 lose in the crypto trading contest?

GPT-5 struggled due to slower reaction times and less efficient trading algorithms compared to DeepSeek and Qwen’s adaptive strategies.

Will AI dominate future crypto trading?

Yes, as AI like DeepSeek and Qwen evolve, they’re expected to dominate crypto trading through data-driven and emotion-free decision-making.