DeepSeek revolutionises stock trading as China's retail investors embrace AI
If you cannot fight them, join them, is the mantra among Chinese retail investors who are embracing DeepSeek and other artificial intelligence (AI) tools, in sharp contrast with last year's government crackdown on computer-driven quantitative traders.
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Online crash courses have mushroomed and training rooms are packed with retail traders eager to beat the market using computer models, as the popularity of DeepSeek – itself backed by a quant fund – changed not only the market trajectory, but the perception of China's US$700 billion hedge fund industry.
The rapid adoption of DeepSeek in China's retail-dominated stock market is also prompting changes at brokerages and wealth managers, while creating new risks for investors in a market dominated and driven by small-time traders' cash flow.
'The future is the digital age, and AI will be vital,' Hong Yangjun told a packed room of individual investors learning to trade with AI on a weekend in February.
A woman walks by an electronic board displaying Chinese stock indices. Photo: AP Photo
Just as future warfare will be fought with drones and robots, the stock market will be a battleground between computers, the lecturer told the class in an office in downtown Shanghai.
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