DeepSeek redefines how investors play the market\n\nThe rapid adoption of DeepSeek in China's retail-dominated stock market is 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.\n\nLast month, investors handed over 15,800 yuan (HK$16,907.33) each for a weekend lecture by Mao Yuchun, founder of Alpha Squared Capital, on how to trade stocks with AI, according to the organiser, who promoted the event by drawing attention to Alpha Squared's geographical affinity with High-Flyer.\n\nHigh-Flyer, based in eastern Hangzhou, is the hedge fund behind DeepSeek - the Chinese AI start up that stunned Silicon Valley with its cost-efficient large language model and spurred a rally in Chinese stocks.\n\nMeanwhile, Chinese social media is brimming with online courses teaching traders how to use DeepSeek to evaluate companies, pick stocks, and code trading strategies.\n\n\"Using quantitative tools to pick stocks saves a lot of time,\" said Wen Hao, a Hangzhou-based trader.\n\n\"You can also use DeepSeek to write codes,\" said Wen, who uses computer programs to determine the timing for buying and selling.\n\nUS fund giants including BlackRock, Renaissance Technologies and Two Sigma have already been using AI in investing for some time. Analysts say small asset managers and even retail investors in China stand to benefit from the emergence of DeepSeek's open-sourced model.\n\n\"In the future, Chinese investors will completely change the way they make investment decisions and place orders,\" said Zhou Lefeng, president of Xiangcai Securities.\n\n\"Previously, clients would ask wealth managers for investment advice. Now they ask DeepSeek.\" \n\nLarry Cao, principal analyst at FinAI Research, said DeepSeek is popular because it's cost-efficient, has strong reasoning ability, and unlike ChatGPT, is readily available, and is promoted by the Chinese government. Nevertheless, he is surprised at the level of faith investors put in the model, cautioning that AI has limits. \"People trust AI models more than they trust financial advisers, which is probably misplaced trust at least at this stage,\" Cao said.

DeepSeek redefines how investors play the market

DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup based in Hangzhou, has gained significant traction in China's retail-dominated stock market, prompting changes at brokerages and wealth managers. The company's open-sourced large language model has led to a surge in stock prices and a shift in investment decision-making among retail investors. This shift has been highlighted by the rapid adoption of DeepSeek, which has spurred new risks and opportunities in the market.