AI use lifts participation in WorldQuant contest

Oct 8 — Hedge fund WorldQuant said on Wednesday registrations for this year's ​flagship global quant research contest have almost doubled from a year earlier, as increased adoption of AI ‌has helped more university students build trading models.

Here are more details:

• The International ⁠Quant Championship, run by ​WorldQuant, a spin-off of Millennium ⁠Management, challenges entrants to build mathematical models that forecast ‌price movements across a ‌range of financial instruments

• About 156,000 people signed ⁠up this year, compared with ⁠roughly 80,000 in 2025, the firm said

• Victor Ayebameru, a student from Adekunle Ajasin University in Nigeria who taught himself quant finance, took first place, highlighting how wider use of AI is lowering entry barriers in quantitative ‌financial trading

• More than 40,000 women ​participated and approximately 28% of participants came from Africa, said Nitish Maini, chief strategy officer at WorldQuant

• Easier access to AI tools has helped students from different backgrounds to develop trading algorithms, boosting interest in quantitative trading competitions that are becoming key recruiting grounds for major hedge ​funds

• There was a notable increase in solo participation this ‌year, the hedge ‌fund ⁠said

• Global hedge fund firms that manage more than $1 billion in assets saw their combined assets rise by more than 19% to a record $4.05 trillion by the end of 2025, ‌according to data from ​With Intelligence, with quant-focused funds ‌posting average asset ⁠growth of ​30% over the year

(Reporting by Shruti Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by ​Mrigank Dhaniwala)

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