Hedge fund's flagship competition attracts 80,000 students as artificial intelligence lowers barriers to algorithmic trading.
Hedge fund WorldQuant's International Quant Championship has attracted a record 80,000 university participants this year, doubling last year's turnout as artificial intelligence makes quantitative trading more accessible to students from diverse academic backgrounds.
The surge in participation marks a significant shift in the competitive landscape of quantitative finance, with AI tools enabling students without traditional finance backgrounds to develop sophisticated trading algorithms. Winners from South Korea, India, Kenya, and Taiwan were announced last week following the competition's three-stage format that ran from March through September.
AI Democratizes Quant Trading
"The interesting difference this year from previous years was that there were a lot of teams that had only one person," Igor Tulchinsky, founder and chairman of WorldQuant, which manages over $7 billion in assets, told Reuters. The shift toward solo competitors suggests that AI-powered tools have reduced the need for large collaborative teams traditionally required to build complex trading models.
MinKyeom Kim from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea claimed the top spot in the competition, which offered cash prizes from a pool of $100,000 and potential employment opportunities at WorldQuant.
The competition, now in its seventh year, has evolved into one of the world's most widely participated quantitative finance championships. Participants from 11,000 universities across 142 countries submitted more than 263,000 alphas—mathematical models designed to predict future price movements of financial instruments—using WorldQuant's BRAIN platform.
Growing Demand for Quant Talent
The record participation coincides with robust growth in the quantitative hedge fund sector. According to data from With Intelligence, quant hedge funds managing over $1 billion saw their overall assets increase by $44 billion in the first half of 2025, driven by strong returns and investor inflows.
"The IQC brings together some of the best talent in the world to cultivate the next generation of quants," said Tulchinsky. "When we launched this competition, our goal was to identify the best. While this goal remains unchanged, the continued interest in the IQC demonstrates the growth of the field and how high-quality talent exists all over the world."
Since its inception, the competition has attracted more than 98,000 contestants from over 5,000 universities across 110-plus countries and regions, according to WorldQuant's March announcement of the 2025 championship.
Platform Powers Global Competition
The competition leverages WorldQuant's BRAIN platform, an interactive web-based simulation environment that allows users to develop and backtest trading strategies in real time. With more than 225,000 users and over 9,000 active research consultants globally, BRAIN provides access to more than 125,000 data fields spanning market, economic, and alternative datasets.
"This year's IQC finalists exemplify how global talent can be identified, challenged, and empowered through real-world application," said Nitish Maini, WorldQuant's Chief Strategy Officer. "The rapid growth in participation reflects a broader shift of increasing demand for hands-on, merit-based learning and the growing importance of competitive frameworks."
For aspiring quants, competitions like WorldQuant's IQC offer more than prizes. Top performers may be considered for research consulting roles, internships, or full-time positions at the firm, creating a direct pipeline from academic competition to professional opportunity in an industry experiencing unprecedented growth and transformation.
