WorldQuant’s International Quant Championship Returns for Its Sixth Year Following Record Global Participation in 2025

Registration is now open for the global competition that drew 80,000 participants in 2025

Offering finalists the chance to compete on a global stage to become “champions” of a distinct arena

OLD GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WorldQuant, a global quantitative asset management firm, has kicked off the 2026 International Quant Championship (IQC), its flagship global quant competition managed through the WorldQuant BRAIN platform. Drawing from a global pool of university students and early career professionals, participants advance through team-based rounds across three distinct stages by building and testing quantitative signals. Registration opens today, March 17, 2026.

Last year’s IQC hit record participation, nearly doubling from 2024 with close to 80,000 participants from 11,000 universities across 142 countries who submitted more than 263,000 alphas¹. The finalist teams spanned the globe, representing twelve regions across four continents. Since its inception, IQC Champions have emerged from countries that go beyond traditional financial hubs, including South Korea, India, Kenya, Taiwan and more.

“In our sixth iteration of this competition, we are incredibly proud to see that the IQC has been established as a leading benchmark for discovering quantitative talent, seeing it grow consecutively each year into a truly global platform,” said Igor Tulchinsky, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of WorldQuant. “This year, we’re excited to build on that unrelenting momentum at a time when AI is opening up new possibilities, new markets and new pools of talent. Through the IQC, we are not only leveling the playing field for young talent around the world, but we are also fostering an atmosphere that puts value on rigorous competition, cooperation across borders and capturing the possibilities that AI and data are quickly unlocking.”

The competition gives top global talent at the intersection of finance, mathematics and technology the chance to become champions of this distinctive arena, performing on a world stage, with finalists ultimately competing in a live global finals event in Singapore. Taking place on WorldQuant’s BRAIN platform, participants have access to an interactive, web-based simulation where users develop quantitative trading strategies and backtest alpha ideas in real time.

“We have seen the IQC grow into one of the strongest global pipelines for talent, especially given our ability to tap into emerging markets,” said Nitish Maini, Chief Strategy Officer at WorldQuant. “Competitions like the IQC are becoming one of the most powerful ways to spark innovation globally by pairing advanced tools with diverse communities. By collecting these champions in one place, we are not just scaling ideas, we are humanizing excellence and tying real‑world challenges to tangible roles and careers. The competitive spirit serves to inspire real breakthroughs, demonstrating how humans and machines can work side by side.”

Top‑scoring teams may qualify to win cash prizes from a pool of $100,000², advance to the global finals in Singapore in September and may be considered for research consulting roles, internships or full‑time positions at WorldQuant. Notably, the BRAIN platform offers the chance for participation to manifest concrete outcomes, with more than 80 participants receiving offers from WorldQuant, turning competition performance into a real career catalyst.

“IQC was the initial stage of my quant life,” said MinKyeom Kim from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea who came in first place in the 2025 IQC. “There are less chances to start with quant and less opportunities. But this competition led me to where I could gain that experience of good performance and access opportunity.”

This year, the IQC will also feature insights and support from a combination of former Olympians and world-class athletes including Patty Collins, Cristina Teuscher and Miklós Gór-Nagy, showcasing the mindset of champions that transcends competitions.

WorldQuant BRAIN now has ~375,000 users and ~13,000 research consultants worldwide, all eligible to receive compensation based on the quality of their ideas. With over 200,000 data fields, performance dashboards and value-added measures to leverage, the platform offers an in-depth educational bootcamp, support and mentorship from experienced quants.

For more information about the 2026 IQC and WorldQuant BRAIN, please visit https://www.worldquant.com/brain/.

About WorldQuant

WorldQuant is a global quantitative asset management firm. Founded in 2007 by Igor Tulchinsky with the belief that talent is global, but opportunity is not, WorldQuant has more than 1,100 employees spread among 28 global offices. WorldQuant seeks to get to the future faster, guided by the principle that there are an infinite number of insights to discover. The firm develops and deploys investment strategies across a variety of asset classes in global markets.

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¹ WorldQuant defines "Alphas" as mathematical models that seek to predict the future price movements of various financial instruments.

² Subject to eligibility.