Genius Yield’s Trading Strategies Competition

8 min readJun 7, 2024

6th of June 2024, Zug, Switzerland: Genius Yield, the all-in-one DeFi platform, is excited to announce the launch of our Trading Strategies Competition, in partnership with Mehen, creators of the USDM fiat-backed stablecoin, Emurgo, an organization that drives the adoption of Cardano’s Web3 ecosystem, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, one of the top engineering universities in Argentina, and ADA Solar, Cardano-based platform that links solar energy with global investors.

This is a unique opportunity for Python programmers to showcase their skills by developing the most effective trading strategies on the Genius Yield DEX. Participants will not only compete for valuable prizes but also have the chance to earn special awards for exceptional code quality and innovative ideas.

Competition Overview

This competition is designed to engage and incentivize developers to contribute to open-source trading strategies using Python. Participants will create trading strategies that operate on the ADA/GENS or ADA/USDM token pairs. Genius Yield is committed to supporting participants by providing open-sourced repositories and educational materials (please see below).

Genius Yield, Mehen, Emurgo, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, and ADA Solar partnered in this competition to:

encourage developers to contribute to open-source trading strategies,
capture the interest of software engineers in algorithmic trading, and
drive the expansion of the Cardano ecosystem.

How to Participate

Active Python developers, university students, graduates, and self-taught Python developers are all welcome to join the competition!

Participants are required to submit their open-source trading strategy implementations to Genius Yield’s GitHub repository. Each submission must include a pull request (PR) using a custom template provided for registration.

Submission deadline: July 21, 2024, at 11:59pm UTC.

Competition Details

The competition will feature trading strategies running on the mainnet with a small amount of funds. As evaluated by the Genius Yield committee, the selected strategies will receive small funding for the pre-launch stage.

Main Category

The primary ranking criterion for the contest is the total ADA balance each participant’s trading strategy accumulates by the end of the contest period. Any CNT balance will be converted to ADA. TapTools will be used for the ADA value reference, ADA balance snapshot will be taken August 12th, 2024, at 11:59pm UTC.

The goal is to assess the efficiency and profitability of each trading strategy. In cases where bots run out of funds, the winner will be the bot that exhausts its funds last, demonstrating greater sustainability and risk management.

The top strategies, pre-selected by the Genius Yield committee, will also compete in an additional category: “Best Code”. This award goes to the participant whose code demonstrates superior quality in terms of structure and readability. The winner in this category will be determined by a committee of technical experts selected by Genius Yield, who will assess each submission based on coding best practices, the implementation of efficient algorithms, and overall technical execution.

Other strategies are also welcome to compete in the Main Category for the main prize but must be funded by their authors.

Prizes

The competition boasts a prize pool of $3,000, distributed as follows:

Main Category:

First Place: $1,300, paid out in GENS
Second Place: $700, paid out in GENS
Third Place: $500, paid out in GENS

Special Category:

Best Code Quality: $500, paid out in GENS

Key Dates

Submission deadline: July 21, 2024, at 11:59pm UTC
Competition start: July 29, 2024
Competition end: August 12, 2024, at 11:59pm UTC
Winners announcement: end of August, 2024

Resources

GitHub repository, Trading Strategy Executor Python SDK: https://github.com/geniusyield/strategy-executor
Trading Bot API, explanatory video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yilEO3myGLA
Example strategy implementation (for the reference): https://github.com/geniusyield/strategy-executor/blob/main/strategies/bollinger_bands_strategy.py

Recommended skillset

To effectively implement simple trading strategies on the Genius Yield DEX using Python, the following skillset is essential:

Basic Python Programming: Proficiency in Python is crucial. Participants should be comfortable with core programming concepts such as variables, control structures, functions, and classes. Familiarity with Python’s syntax and the ability to write clean, readable code are required
Understanding of Order Book Mechanics: A foundational understanding of how an order book works is necessary. This includes knowledge of bid and ask prices, order depth, and how trades are executed and matched in the order book. Insight into market orders, limit orders, and potentially more complex order types will enable participants to develop effective strategies
Analytical Thinking: Ability to analyze market data and interpret signals that can be transformed into trading decisions. This involves a logical approach to decision-making based on the current state of the order book and market conditions
[Optional] Use of Python Libraries: Familiarity with Python libraries that are relevant to data handling and numerical analysis, such as NumPy, pandas, and matplotlib for data visualization. Knowledge of libraries specific to trading and financial analysis, such as backtrader or pyalgotrade, is highly beneficial

Genius Yield’s Strategic Partners

Mehen:

Support broad communication of the competition across all owned and earned media channels
Fund USDM/ADA top strategies

Emurgo, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, and ADA Solar:

Support broad communication of the competition across all owned and earned media channels

Other Rules

Eligibility and Participation

All participants must use Python to implement their trading strategies
Submissions must be compatible with the strategy executor framework provided by Genius Yield
The use of external libraries and tools for strategy development is encouraged to enhance functionality and effectiveness

Submissions

Each participant must submit their trading strategy code before the announced deadline (registration and submission via pull requests to the main branch)
The trading strategy should be original and solely the work of the participant
Submission must be done by July 21, 2024, 11:59pm UTC.

Fair Play and Integrity

Any form of cheating, including generating volume for one’s own strategy, or interacting with orders placed by one’s own bot, is strictly prohibited
Attempts to manipulate results, or engaging in other activities to gain an unfair advantage will lead to immediate disqualification
In the case of any ambiguities, Genius Yield reserves the right to disqualify any participant found in violation of contest rules or engaging in unethical behavior

External Integrations

Participants are permitted and encouraged to use external libraries and integrations that enhance the functionality and effectiveness of their trading strategies
All external integrations must be declared at the time of submission, with detailed documentation on their use and impact on the trading strategy

Intellectual Property

Participants retain intellectual property rights to their trading strategies, however, by entering the contest, they grant Genius Yield non-exclusive rights to use the strategies for promotional or educational purposes
Trading strategy code contributions are automatically licensed under the permissive, open-source, flexible, and developer-friendly Apache License, Version 2.0.

Disclaimer

Genius Yield reserves the right to make final decisions regarding the interpretation of the rules and the resolution of disputes
Participants acknowledge that the decisions made by Genius Yield are final and binding

Potential Amendments of the Rules

Genius Yield reserves the right to amend the rules at any time. Participants will be notified of any rule changes through official channels

This is a fantastic opportunity for developers to demonstrate their algorithmic trading prowess and contribute to the Genius Yield community. We look forward to seeing your innovative strategies in action!

Let the coding begin!

About Genius Yield

Genius Yield is the all-in-one DeFi platform that combines an order-book DEX with an AI-powered yield optimizer, built from the ground up on the Cardano blockchain.

It is designed to take advantage of benefits provided by Cardano’s EUTxO smart contracts, such as security, determinism, parallelism, scalability, and composability.

The Genius Yield platform is accessible both to beginners and seasoned traders. Our solutions are practical and easy to use, allowing participants to reap the benefits of DeFi in a mitigated environment anchored on security, transparency, and automation.

Genius Yield minimizes risk and maximizes profits in an intuitive, hassle-free way.

The Community DEX

At Genius Yield we firmly believe that sustainable growth can be achieved through collaboration with the Cardano community and the ecosystem. That’s why selected, core elements of our DEX were open-sourced:

About USDM

USDM is the first fiat-backed stablecoin issued on the Cardano blockchain. It is backed 1:1 by USD in the USDM Reserve and can be purchased or redeemed for $1. The token conforms with the standard Cardano native token formats, with 6 decimal points, for maximum compatibility and composability within the Cardano blockchain ecosystem. Reserves are verified by the Charli3 Oracle network, which has read-only access to the USDM Reserve accounts. For ultimate Proof of Reserves transparency, the Charli3 Oracle independently reports the value of the USDM Reserve on-chain daily. Minting of the USDM token is controlled by smart contracts that ensure the amount of USDM that is able to be minted is equivalent to the USDM Reserve as independently reported by Charli3. The USDM Reserve is held in a group of AAA-rated USD Government-only Money Market Funds and bank accounts. Designed to be stable, transparent, and efficient, USDM bridges the gap between traditional fiat currencies and the decentralized world of blockchain.

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About Emurgo

EMURGO is a founding entity of the Cardano blockchain and provides products and services to drive the adoption of Cardano’s Web3 ecosystem.

Trust: In a remote working environment, teammates rely upon and trust each other to achieve individual and collective goals.
Laser-Focused: people are laser-focused to achieve goals and deliver results in a fast-moving industry.
Teamwork: our 110+ global employees work in close collaboration across different time zones, native languages, and cultures to achieve a common goal of driving Cardano adoption.
Grit: we value people who display perseverance and grit to take on new initiatives and find the best results for Cardano users and projects
Quick Action: as a global remote company in the blockchain industry, quick action and decisiveness are highly valued traits.

About Universidad Tecnológica Nacional

The National Technological University / Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN) was created to generate, preserve and transmit universal cultural and technical knowledge in the field of technology, being the only national university in Argentina with engineering as the central focus of its academic structure.

The UTN has two characteristics that distinguish it from the rest of the institutions of the Argentine university system:

It is the only university in the country that has engineering as a priority in its academic offerings
It has a federal character , as it includes all the regions of Argentina

Research at UTN aims to develop innovative solutions to the most challenging technological challenges posed by the society. This is how Science and Technology Development is carried out in more than 33 Centers and 66 Research and Development Groups. In these executing units, more than 1,800 teacher-researchers carry out their tasks, along with graduate and undergraduate students. The projects are organized thematically into 14 programs with priority research and development lines.

About ADA Solar

ADA Solar is a Cardano blockchain-based platform that links solar energy with global investors. Organizer of hackaton in Argentina and co-organizer of the Cardano Summit.

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