How a large trading competition is designed: A conversation with Miao, the chief designer of the Huobi HTX 13th Anniversary Peak Competition

The "VIP Guardian Program" is a series of interview columns launched by Huobi HTX, focusing on large client service practices. Every Tuesday, the platform's frontline service team is invited to share real service experiences, market observations, and insights into customer needs, conveying a long-term service philosophy and showcasing Huobi HTX's professional and stable customer service capabilities.

Guesting in the 14th episode of the "VIP Guardian Program" is Miao, the head of large trading events at Huobi HTX and also the main designer of the platform's 13th anniversary peak competition. The World Cup prediction activities in June and July this year, previous peak competitions, and various fun trading activities during festivals have all come from her team.

In the impression of most users, trading competitions are arenas for experts: sufficient capital is required, trading frequency must be high, and the top of the leaderboard is usually familiar faces. However, in designing this year's Huobi HTX 13th anniversary peak competition, the repeated consideration was what ordinary users with limited capital and who do not plan to monitor the market daily could gain from it.

Implementing User Suggestions

The theme of this year's 13th anniversary peak competition is "Resilient Surfers," consisting of three segments: points competition, individual competition, and team competition, with a total prize pool of up to 800,000 USDT. Both the individual and team competitions include both spot and contract tracks, featuring three major leaderboards: trading volume, profit amount, and return rate. This is the third time Huobi HTX has held a peak competition, and compared to previous ones, many optimizations have been made, especially in the team competition. Miao stated that the team has been collecting user feedback, and most of the changes this time were based on user opinions and suggestions.

Some users mentioned that it was too cumbersome to form teams separately for spot and contracts, so this time a one-click team formation for spot and contracts was introduced; some users expressed a desire to participate with their teams without manually trading, so the team competition page directly embedded a copy trading entry, with all copy traders marked with a special "star trader" label, allowing users to click on their avatars to jump to their personal trading data page; other users mentioned their reluctance to upload avatars, so the team prepared a batch of ready-made avatar materials and team slogans, "to facilitate everyone in exchanging banter."

The conditions for team formation have also been relaxed, allowing users with an asset account balance of 10 USDT to participate, and the required number of team members has been reduced from 5 to 3. Miao said, "We want more friends to participate happily."

Giving Different Types of Users Opportunities

In terms of competitive design, this year's peak competition features both individual and team competitions using a mechanism of parallel leaderboards for trading volume, profit amount, and return rate. According to Miao, the diversified competition format is intended to provide enough space for various types of traders to perform. "It's not just for the big players; we also particularly appreciate users who excel at making small investments yield high returns."

During the live broadcast, one question frequently asked by viewers was which leaderboard users with limited capital should focus on. Miao's suggestion is to pay attention to the profit amount and return rate leaderboards, using a smaller cost to leverage leaderboard data. As for whether one can appear on all three leaderboards simultaneously, it depends more on individual skill.

Additionally, the event offers thoughtful benefits for new users on the platform. Participants making their first trade during the event can receive a 3x bonus on trading data, while long-term inactive users can receive a 2x bonus. "The main goal is to give newcomers a platform and let them feel confident competing with the big players," Miao said.

For users who do not intend to compete for rankings, the event also prepared daily benefits: entering the event page daily allows for a lottery draw, sharing the event can earn extra lottery chances, and daily spot trading of 66 USDT or contract trading of 88 USDT can earn red envelopes. These measures further lower the participation threshold, and as of the day of the live broadcast, the number of event registrants has exceeded 35,000.

Focusing on Trading Experience

In addition to repeatedly refining the competition format, to further enhance the trading experience for participating users, Miao and her team have seamlessly integrated the copy trading feature into the team competition.

The copy trading entry is directly embedded in the team competition page, allowing users to make selections without switching pages; the recommended traders on the page are all marked with a special "star trader" label for easy identification, and clicking on their avatars allows users to jump to their personal trading data page; if there is no preferred choice, users can also select the official AI team leader. The trading volume generated from copy trading is also counted towards the team's score, and users will ultimately share the team prize pool based on their actual trading volume proportion.

For traders, this design also brings dual incentives. Traders can directly serve as team leaders, recruiting team members to compete, and in addition to participating in the prize distribution based on rankings, they can also enjoy 10% of the internal team prize pool, with personal earnings and team results being realized simultaneously.

However, a convenient copy trading experience does not mean users should completely hand over their choices to others. Miao specifically advised when introducing this feature: "Before choosing a trader, it's still important to look at each trader's avatar, check their personal copy trading data, and see if the historical data aligns with what you are good at or want, before proceeding with copy trading." Copy trading lowers the operational threshold, but the strategy used still needs to be judged by the user themselves.

The team formation phase also leaves room for strategy. For teams looking to further climb the rankings, Miao provided her thoughts: if they can gather more than 6 people, they can split into two teams, one focusing on trading volume while also considering profit amount, suitable for members with larger trading volumes; the other led by members skilled in strategy, focusing on profit amount and return rate. "It really depends on what your team members are good at; just be flexible."

The Event is Still Ongoing

Currently, the 13th Anniversary Peak Competition Individual Challenge has entered the sprint stage, while the team competition formation period is in full swing. On August 31, the team competition trading period will soon begin, during which users can still create or join teams, and those who have not yet formed a team can still participate.

"Peak showdown, the strong remain strong." At the end of the live broadcast, Miao sent her blessings, "Wishing all participants to ride the momentum, trade smoothly, win big prizes, and return with a full load."

Complete live replay: ++ "VIP Guardian Program - Miao" ++