Alpha Hackathon — Kickoff (SF) - Open Registration
Overview
The Alpha Hackathon begins.
This is not a casual hackathon. It is a live proving ground for agentic AI systems operating in real market environments, where strategy, execution, and risk meet.
We’re bringing together:
• Quant researchers
• ML engineers
• Traders and system builders
• AI founders and infrastructure teams
The goal is to build autonomous trading systems that are forced to interact with real-world market conditions.
⚡ Early Access Soft Start
Opened June 22
Early Access is now open for participants who want to begin building before the official kickoff.
This phase is designed for:
• Early team formation
• Strategy exploration
• Initial model development
• Infrastructure setup
By the time the July 19 kickoff happens, early participants won’t be starting from zero. They’ll be refining live systems.
🕰️ Day of Schedule
1:00 – Doors Open Check-in Networking
2:00 – Welcome + Event Framing: Hackathon Structure, Rules + Timeline, Quick overview of Lumibot
2:30 – Break
2:40 – Main Training: Using the Platform, MCP, Bot building
3:30 – Break
3:40 – Hack using BotSpot
4:50 – Break
5:00 – Wrap and final questions / next steps
What You’re Building
Participants will develop AI trading agents across:
• Options
• Futures
• Commodities, including energy, metals, and agriculture
• Crypto
• Prediction markets
Focus areas include:
• Reinforcement learning systems
• Real-time decision engines
• Autonomous strategy execution
• Adaptive models in chaotic environments
Systems are expected to go beyond signal generation.
That means:
• Strategy design and adaptation
• Execution logic and market interaction
• Risk management and survivability
• Real-time decision-making under uncertainty
Structure
June 22: Early Access opens, optional
July 19: Official kickoff, in-person in San Francisco
July 19 to August 19: One month build window, iteration and optimization
August 19 to September 19: Trading window Hands off! Set the bots free!
September 19: Finale event in San Francisco, with live results and awards
⚠️ If you don’t have a functioning bot after August 19, you’re out.
Prizes
Top three teams will receive cash awards plus a one-year BotSpot Pro Plan.
1st place: $500 plus 1 year BotSpot Pro Plan, $2,400 value
2nd place: $300 plus 1 year BotSpot Pro Plan, $2,400 value
3rd place: $200 plus 1 year BotSpot Pro Plan, $2,400 value
Everyone who enters will also receive free access to the BotSpot AI Bootcamp, a $500 value.
BotSpot AI Bootcamp:
https://www.botspot.trade/ai-bot-builder-bootcamp
Food and Drinks
Pizza and drinks will be provided during the kickoff event.
Registration Requirement
Registration Requirement
Important: before completing your Luma registration, you must:
Create or log into your BotSpot Hackathon account
https://www.botspot.trade/hackathonRegister for the Alpha Hackathon kickoff on Luma
https://luma.com/alpha-hackathon-kickoff-sfUse the same email for both BotSpot and Luma registration
This allows us to:
• Associate your BotSpot account with your submission
• Track bot performance
• Confirm eligibility for the competition
Failure to use the same email may result in disqualification.
Why This Is Different
Most hackathons reward demos.
This one rewards performance under uncertainty.
Participants will be working with:
• Live market exposure
• Real strategy competition
• Institutional-level thinking
• Brutally honest discussions about trading reality
Most events stop at the model.
This one extends into:
• Execution behavior
• Market interaction
• System durability under real conditions
This is where strategy meets infrastructure.
Who Should Attend
This event is built for:
• Engineers building AI agents
• Quants and systematic traders
• Data scientists working with time-series systems
• Founders exploring autonomous decision systems
If you’re serious about building real alpha, not toy models, this is for you.
Thank You to our Sponsors
BotSpot by Lumiwealth is an AI trading bot platform designed to help traders, builders, and strategy researchers turn trading ideas into working bots.
Participants can use BotSpot to create, test, and deploy trading strategies through a workflow built around AI-assisted strategy development. For the Alpha Hackathon, BotSpot provides the core environment for connecting participant accounts, tracking submissions, and evaluating bot performance during the competition.
Lucy Labs is a multi-strategy proprietary trading firm focused on developing and applying quantitative and fundamental trading strategies in major spot, lending, and futures markets. The Lucy Labs’ team has extensive knowledge and an advanced understanding of the market structure and related trends.
Lucy Labs manages a range of quantitative strategies exploiting momentum and carry factors, targeting moderate to aggressive returns while maintaining rigorous risk management and strategy-specific structures to reduce the volatility inherent in the financial markets. The firm also acts as a market maker and liquidity provider in various exchanges.
Founded in 2017 as a proprietary trading firm, the firm has achieved significant trading profitability in each year of operation. The Lucy Labs team has extensive cryptocurrency research and trading experience in addition to prior experience in quantitative trading, private equity, venture capital, FinTech, derivatives and fundamental equity/fixed income analysis.
This event is hosted at the Frontier Tower:
We are transforming a 16-floor tower in San Francisco into a self-governed vertical village—a hub for frontier technologies and creative arts. Tier-one labs presenting AI, Ethereum, biotech, neuroscience, longevity, robotics, makerspace, human flourishing, and arts & music. These floors will house innovators and creators pushing the boundaries of human potential in a post-AI-singularity world.
Apply here for founding citizenship: https://frontiertower.io/apply
Why should I become a citizen?
Be part of creating the first self-governed vertical village
Connect with the most creative people in the city
Get access to all floors, free event space & movement floor
Website: https://frontiertower.io/
Need more reading? Visit https://frontiertower.notion.site/