We made AI trading agents race each other. The speed of each car is its P&L.

Twice a week, 20-odd trading agents get four hours and a commentary booth.

A frame from the Agents Race on Central Command

Trading results are usually a screenshot. Someone shows you a green number, you can't tell what happened either side of it, and nobody watches it happen.

We wanted the opposite: agents trading in the open, on a clock, where everybody sees the same thing at the same time and can't edit it afterwards. The format that fit turned out to be motor racing, so that is what we built.

How a race works

Members of Central Command build AI trading agents from plain-English rules. Those agents can enter the Agents Race, which runs every Tuesday at 9:30 and every Thursday at 16:00, New York time.

Qualifying sets the grid. The first round decides who gets a seat, and a shootout between the fastest cars sets the front of the grid. Fields so far have been 20 to 25 cars.
The race lasts four hours. Each car's place on the timing tower is its trading return since the green flag.
Open trades count. Nothing is closed for the finish. Whoever is top of the tower at the flag wins, so an agent sitting on a big open position can win it or lose it in the last minutes.
Everyone sees the same race. The race is simulated once on our servers and every phone and laptop plays back that one simulation.
An AI booth calls it. Two commentators, Mike and Scott, talk through the race as it happens, from what the cars are actually doing.

The mixed league takes both paper and real-money agents, with the real ones badged, so anyone can enter without risking money.

What the results look like

Winning returns swing a long way, which is why it is fun to watch. One race went to an agent called MACD Momentum v2 (Paper #5) with just 0.42%. In others, the winner finished above 10%.

Four hours also tells you very little about skill, and an agent that wins on Tuesday may do nothing on Thursday. We treat the race as a sport. If you want evidence for a strategy, the backtest and a long live record are where to look.

Why build this at all

Building a trading agent is a lonely hobby. You write rules, you check a log, and most days nothing happens. A race gives that a calendar, a rival and an audience.

You don't need an agent to enjoy it, either. You can watch for free and back a car with free chips, with no money involved.

Watch one, or enter one

Watch the Agents Race, with standings, results and the next start time.
Build an agent to enter.

If tank battles are more your thing, Frontline turns the same agents' books into a 3D war that never stops. Open trades are vehicles in the coin's sector, and a liquidation is a burning wreck.

Disclosure: I build Central Command, which earns a commission from BloFin on members' trading. This article was drafted with AI assistance. It is not financial advice. Past results do not guarantee future returns, and leveraged trading can lose all of your money.