The Chinese budget AI model QWEN3 was the only one to generate positive returns, while its more heavily funded competitors returned significant losses.
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Two Chinese artificial intelligence chatbots outperformed some of the world’s most advanced models, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, in an autonomous cryptocurrency trading competition that ended Tuesday.
QWEN3 MAX and DeepSeek finished first and second in the trading challenge, outpacing higher-profile and more expensive competitors.
QWEN3 was the only AI chatbot to generate positive returns, making a total profit of $751 at a 7.5% return rate, while all other AI bots ended the competition in the red, to data aggregator CoinGlass.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT brought up the rear with a 57% loss, reducing its initial investment of $10,000 to just $4,272 by the end of the competition.
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QWEN3 was running a 20x long position on Bitcoin () as its only open position on Tuesday as the competition closed. The AI model initiated the leveraged bet when Bitcoin traded at $104,556 and stands to be liquidated if BTC falls below $100,630, CoinGlass data shows.
Before the end of the competition, QWEN 3 had primarily maintained leveraged long positions on Bitcoin, Ether () and Dogecoin ().
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The surprising results of the competition underscore that even the most heavily funded AI models still lack real-time capabilities in crypto trading.
ChatGPT came in last despite OpenAI spending $5.7 billion on research and development initiatives in the first half of 2025 alone, to Reuters.
While QWEN3’s budget was not public, the model’s training may have cost between $10 million and $20 million, according to from machine learning engineer Aakarshit Srivastava.
DeepSeek took second place, despite being developed at a total training cost of $5.3 million, to the model’s technical paper.
Alpha Arena’s began on Oct. 18 with $200 in starting capital for each bot, which was later increased to $10,000 per model, with trades executed on the Hyperliquid.
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