SG vs. HK Quant Trading Hackathon (Universities)
🇸🇬🇭🇰 Singapore vs Hong Kong Quant Trading Hackathon
Sponsored by IMC Trading, Cubist Systematic Strategies (Point72), Optiver, and Gondor Capital, we are excited to present the Inaugural Singapore vs Hong Kong Quant Trading Hackathon — a cross‑border quantitative trading competition bringing together top student talent from two of the world’s leading financial hubs.
This hackathon features three leading universities from each region, including HKU, HKUST, CUHK from Hong Kong, and NUS, SMU, NTU from Singapore. Framed as a friendly rivalry between Singapore and Hong Kong, the competition focuses on quantitative trading in crypto markets.
Participants will design, build, and deploy live quantitative trading strategies, compete in real‑time crypto markets, and present their ideas to industry judges from top trading firms. Beyond competition, students will gain hands‑on experience with industry‑grade tools while connecting with leading proprietary trading and hedge fund teams.
Team Formation Deadline: Mar 14 (Sat), 12pm noon GMT+8. No late teams will be accepted.
🧠 What You’ll Do
Design and implement quantitative trading strategies
Deploy live strategies with virtual portfolio in crypto markets
Compete against top teams across SG and HK
Present your approach to industry professionals
Network with sponsors and fellow quants
Win prizes and career opportunities!
Get cool swags from our sponsors!
🏫 Organizers
Roostoo Labs (AI × Web3 Startup)
HKU Quantitative Research Society
NUS Investment Society
Traders@UST
SMU Fintech Club
NTU Quantitative Research Society
CUHK Strategic Investment Society
SMU Quantitative Finance Society
CUHK Financial Technology Society
HKU Data Science Association
CUHK Quant Trading Society
💼 Sponsors
Platinum Sponsor: IMC Trading
Gold Sponsor: Optiver
Gold Sponsor: Cubist Systematic Strategies (Point72)
Gold Sponsor: Gondor Capital
🗓 Competition Timeline
Feb 23 – Mar 14: Applications & Team Formation
Hard Deadline: Mar 14 (Sat), 12pm noon GMT+8. No late teams will be accepted.
Mar 13, 3pm GMT+8: Online Introduction Session (Zoom)
Mar 16 – Mar 20: Strategy Building Phase
Mar 21 – Mar 31: Preliminary Round (Live Trading)
Apr 4 – Apr 14: Final Round (Live Trading)
Apr 17: Final Submission (Pitch Decks)
Apr 17 – Apr 21: Grand Finale (In‑Person in SG & HK, locations TBA)
Demo Day, Sponsor Judging & Awards
👥 Who Should Join?
This hackathon is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students who are curious about quantitative finance, trading, and engineering. We welcome participants from backgrounds including:
Computer Science & Engineering
Quantitative Finance
Data Science
Industrial / Mechanical Engineering
Experience with Python, APIs, algorithmic trading, AWS/EC2, or similar technical stacks is a plus, but not required.
At least one technical member in each team is strongly recommended
⚔️ Competition Structure
Round 1: City Qualifiers
Hong Kong and Singapore teams will compete separately during a 10‑day live trading window.
Two parallel competitions (HK & SG)
Top 8 teams from each city advance to the final round
Selection Criteria
Portfolio returns
Composite risk‑adjusted metrics (Sharpe, Sortino, Calmar, etc.)
Basic review of code repository and strategy validity
Rule compliance
Round 2: HK vs SG Final
The final round features 8 teams from Hong Kong vs 8 teams from Singapore, structured as two portfolio groups representing competing “funds.”
Teams within the same city may collaborate or coordinate strategies
The winning city is determined by overall average portfolio performance
🏆 Win the glory – and the bragging rights.
🏆 Prizes & Rewards
1. Best Finalist Presentations (6 Awards)
Two in‑person finale events will be held (one in SG, one in HK). Sponsor judges will select top presentation teams.
1st Place: $800 USD × 2
2nd Place: $500 USD × 2
3rd Place: $300 USD × 2
Winners will also receive:
Invitations to exclusive sponsor networking dinners
Potential company visits
Early assessment and interview opportunities
2. Performance Rewards (8 Awards)
Highest Absolute Portfolio Return:
1st Place: $400 USD × 2
2nd Place: $200 USD × 2
Best Risk‑Adjusted Return (Composite Score):
1st Place: $400 USD × 2
2nd Place: $200 USD × 2
(Assessed across both preliminary and final rounds)
3. Winning City Award (8 Awards)
Top 8 teams from the winning city
$300 USD per team
🎓 Educational Fund & Continued Opportunities
For teams who build strong, production‑ready repositories and wish to continue developing their strategies:
Continued access to the Roostoo trading platform
Sponsored cloud infrastructure support
Performance‑based incentives for consistent improvement
Invitation to contribute to an educational trading fund
Valuable CV experience
Potential upside and profit‑sharing opportunities
No downside risk
🎼 Competition Rules at a Glance
Open to all NUS, SMU, NTU, HKU, HKUST, and CUHK students
Teams of 1–4 students; one team per participant
Strict anti-plagiarism policy—all submissions must be original
Finalists must verify student status with university ID
All code must be submitted as open-source (GitHub repo)
Organizers reserve final rights on all competition matters
✍️ Hackathon Problem Statement
Requirements:
Build a fully autonomous trading bot that:
Interfaces with the Roostoo Mock Exchange API
Fetches real-time market data (GET), places live trades (POST)
Trades any and all listed coins on the Roostoo App —no restrictions
Makes buy/sell decisions based on your team’s quantitative model, pre-defined rules, or adaptive strategy
Leaderboard & Live Competition
Bots run 24/7 in the cloud, competing on the public Roostoo leaderboard.
Strategies are open—bring your creativity, from classic quant to AI agents, or create your own custom from scratch.
Track your bot’s ROI, trade orders, and performance in real time on the Roostoo app.
Technical resources:
API Documentation: https://github.com/roostoo/Roostoo-API-Documents
Each team receives AWS IAM credentials (EC2 for cloud-based bots/ML workloads).
Rate limits are enforced. High-frequency trading (HFT) strategies are not supported. This competition is designed for discretionary/directional strategies (e.g. one trade per minute). Requests exceeding the server rate limit may be rejected.
WhatsApp channel with Roostoo engineers for tech & troubleshooting support
👨💻 Final Submission & Presentation
Deliverables:
Presentation deck (≤12 slides) covering:
Trading idea & strategy
Technical execution (architecture, algorithms)
Risk management & controls
Live Roostoo competition results
Backtest & validation results
Open-source code repository (GitHub)
Grand Finale:
Live pitch presentation in front of industry judges, sponsors, and peers. Winners will be announced, and top teams will have exclusive networking opportunities.
👉 How to Get Started
Sign Up: Fill out this Luma application form to express your interest
Team Formation: Fill out this form - https://form.typeform.com/to/rhbdz4Ka to confirm your team members and finalize your team.
Join Workshop: Join the introduction session and technical workshop on March 13, 3pm GMT+8. A Zoom link (https://hku.zoom.us/j/98689289569) is here. A recording will be provided after the session.
Hackathon Starts: On March 16th, we’ll announce the official list of competing teams and provide all the necessary hackathon materials, including documentation, technical guides, and a link to join our support channels on WhatsApp.
Grand Finale: Live pitch presentation at one of the universities in each city. Hiring representatives from IMC Trading, Optiver, Cubist Systematic Strategies, Gondor Capital and other industry leaders will be present as judges and talent scouts!
This hackathon marks the beginning of an annual SG vs HK quant trading series. If you’re excited about quantitative trading, live markets, and competing at the highest student level — we’d love to have you join.