Chinese retail traders embrace DeepSeek in a nod to quants

If you cannot fight them, join them, is the mantra among Chinese mom-and-pop investors who are embracing DeepSeek and other artificial intelligence tools, in sharp contrast with last year's government crackdown on computer-driven quantitative traders. 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 $700 billion hedge fund industry. The rapid adoption of DeepSeek in China's retail-dominated stock market is also prompting changes at…