From Sign-up to Showdown: WEEX AI Trading Hackathon Advances to First Round Algorithm Screening Today

2026-01-13 07:26

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WEEX is attempting to bring the AI trading capability, originally confined to institutions and private teams, into a public, verifiable, and comparable competitive arena through this global hackathon.

Source: WEEX

On January 12, 2026, WEEX officially launched the first round of its global AI Trading Hackathon. This high-profile event, targeting global quant teams, algorithmic traders, and AI modelers, has transitioned from the registration and proposal collection phase to algorithmic live combat in a real market environment.

As the excitement around the event continues to build, WEEX simultaneously announced that, with unprecedented attention from global participants and sponsors, the total prize pool for this hackathon has been increased from the original $880,000 to $1,880,000, further solidifying its position as one of the largest AI trading events in the current crypto industry.

As of January 13, data on the event's preliminary round page shows that the total number of registered participants, including hackers and quantitative developers, has approached 800. The latecomer registration channel is now officially open, with the competition rules and format remaining unchanged, allowing more global teams to join this face-off between AI and the market.

From Strategic Ideation to Actual Gameplay: Official Start of the First Round Selection

According to the event's mechanism, this preliminary round is not a simple code or backtesting comparison but a real-world environment test of all AI trading strategies submitted by participating teams under unified rules.

For this round of preliminaries, WEEX has provided a standardized trading environment and capital parameters, allowing different algorithms to compete under the same market fluctuations, including:

· Trend identification capability

· Drawdown control

· Adaptability of high-frequency and mid-frequency models

· Risk management response in extreme market conditions

This means that starting today, all participating strategies will face a reality check:

It's not about "looking good while running" but about "whether you can survive in real volatility."

$1,880,000 Incentive Pool Leading to Global Live Finals

With the rapid expansion of the participant base and ecosystem partners, WEEX has increased the incentive pool for this AI Trading Hackathon to $1,880,000 and continues to offer championship rewards, including luxury cars.

The competition will go through multiple rounds of screening, gradually eliminating low-stability models, and finally entering the subsequent global playoff and live trading duel stage. The final qualifying teams will conduct real-market trading under a unified fund size, competing for the top honor in the AI trading field.

WEEX CSO Ethan: The feedback from this competition will directly benefit the product and system

As one of the key drivers of this event, WEEX Co-founder and Chief Security Officer Ethan publicly stated after the start of the qualifiers that he was initially cautious about whether this AI trading hackathon could reach a sufficient scale, but the current registration data has clearly exceeded expectations.

“When I saw that the number of backstage registrations was close to 800 people, this number far exceeded my initial judgment and made me truly feel the market and developers' trust in WEEX."

Ethan also specifically mentioned that there are many familiar faces and mature teams in the list of participants, which means that this event is not only an open challenge but also a head-on collision of high-level algorithms.

More importantly, Ethan sees this competition as a direct communication channel between WEEX and frontline quantitative developers.

“Whether it's functionality, experience, or processes, as long as participants find areas for optimization in the competition, they can provide direct feedback to us. These frontline insights from a real trading environment are key for WEEX to continuously refine its product and risk control system."

In his view, this event format, which pits real strategies against the real market while reverse-calibrating trading systems and risk control architectures, is itself a stress test for AI trading infrastructure.

WEEX is taking AI trading into the public arena

Since its establishment in 2018, WEEX has been continuously investing in security, matching systems, and quantitative trading infrastructure. As the status of AI and algorithmic trading in the crypto market has been rising, WEEX is trying to use this global hackathon to bring AI trading capabilities, originally confined to institutions and private teams, into a public, verifiable, and comparable competitive stage.

Starting from the algorithm screening on January 12, the real game between AI and the market has already begun.

With a $1,880,000 incentive pool and a scale of nearly 800 participants, it is pushing it towards a truly global AI trading event.

About WEEX

Founded in 2018, WEEX is a global cryptocurrency exchange dedicated to providing users with secure, stable, and user-friendly trading services. The platform supports spot and derivatives trading, and is equipped with a multi-level risk control system and a full reserve insurance fund to safeguard user assets. WEEX has partnered with LALIGA, the Spanish La Liga, as the official regional brand partner for Hong Kong and Taiwan, and is actively promoting compliance and localization in regions such as the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. With the continuous expansion of its Web3 ecosystem strategy, WEEX is collaborating with global developers and user communities to drive digital asset trading towards a more open and transparent direction.