Question 1

Who can apply?

Accepted Answer

Any student, any institution, any background. The elite profiles we attract set the competitive standard — not the entry bar.

Question 2

Do I need finance or trading knowledge?

Accepted Answer

No. Round 1 is learnable from first principles and assumes none.

Question 3

What exactly is Round 1?

Accepted Answer

A 150-minute online contest with three modules — Crowd Alpha (30 min, 20%), Algorithmic Quant (60 min, 40%) and Blackbox Lab (60 min, 40%). All three are attempted and percentile-normalised before weighting.

Question 4

How is authorship verified? What about AI?

Accepted Answer

Telemetry, local screen recordings, hidden tests and similarity analysis build the evidence chain. Provisional qualifiers then face an 8-minute technical reconstruction interview across five panels.

Question 5

What happens at the final?

Accepted Answer

Two days, offline at IIT Kanpur — 13–14 March 2027, for the 50 finalists. The detailed final format is kept sealed until closer to the event.

Question 6

Can I participate fully online?

Accepted Answer

Rounds 1 and 2 are online. The final — the Systems Arena — is offline at IIT Kanpur, for the 50 finalists only.

Question 7

What do I earn by participating?

Accepted Answer

Verified credentials, a multidimensional A·M·S·R profile, a share of the ₹1.5 Lakh prize pool, and opt-in visibility to quantitative employers.

Question 8

How is my data handled?

Accepted Answer

Shared only with your explicit consent, under a published privacy policy — never as a sponsorship perk.

Eight questions, answered straight.

Still unsure?

The field opens soon.

Eight questions, answered straight.

Still unsure?

The field opens soon.

Eight questions, answered straight.

01Who can apply?

02Do I need finance or trading knowledge?

03What exactly is Round 1?

04How is authorship verified? What about AI?

05What happens at the final?

06Can I participate fully online?

07What do I earn by participating?

08How is my data handled?

Still unsure?

The field opens soon.

Eight questions, answered straight.

01Who can apply?

02Do I need finance or trading knowledge?

03What exactly is Round 1?

04How is authorship verified? What about AI?

05What happens at the final?

06Can I participate fully online?

07What do I earn by participating?

08How is my data handled?

Still unsure?

The field opens soon.