Organizer-maintained challenge sitePhoenix · 14–17 Dec 2026

Financial AIshould show its work.

FinReason Cup challenges systems to reason, act, and verify across three complementary tracks—then prove how they reached the result.

Led by The Fin AI, with contributors affiliated with MBZUAI, McGill, Stevens, Yale, and the University of Manchester.

Submit LOI IEEE Cup overview

The LOI is open for teams planning to participate. Dataset, starter kit, submission, and leaderboard links will appear here after organizer verification.

An abstract verification engine connecting reasoning nodes, balanced market signals, and filing evidence. — Proof system / 03 tracksReason · Hedge · Verify

Tracks03 technical tasks
EvaluationPublic + private
Finalist reviewReproducibility planned
StatusLOI open

00 / THE PREMISE

A plausible answer is not yet a trustworthy answer.

ClaimWhat did the system conclude?

EvidenceWhat trace, action, or filing supports it?

VerificationCan the result be checked and reproduced?

01 / TRACKS

Three financial-AI capabilities. Three technical tracks.

Explore one or more tracks. Final participation rules will be published with the starter kits; each dossier summarizes the planned inputs, system behavior, outputs, and score signals.

01CHAIN

Symbolic reasoning

Verifiable Financial Chain Reasoning

Can a system provide an auditable path to a financial answer?

Solve multi-step financial problems and provide a final answer plus a step-by-step reasoning trace, evaluated against gold traces generated from executable FinChain templates.

01Financial problem

02Step-by-step trace

03Answer + trace score

Data plan

Planned FinChain-derived problems across core financial domains. The exact subset, trace format, ChainEval version, and tolerance policy will be frozen with the starter kit.

Score signals

Final-answer accuracyChainEval · provisional

02HEDGE

Sequential decisions

Market-Neutral Hedging

Can an agent exploit relative value without relying on net directional exposure?

Select an asset pair and manage a zero-net-dollar position over time using point-in-time prices, news, and corporate filings. Final execution and position rules will be published with the scorer.

01Market context

02Paired actions

03Risk-aware return

Data plan

Planned HERCULEAN-derived development and private evaluation splits. Exact windows, asset policy, costs, and validity rules will be published with the dataset release.

Score signals

Cumulative return · CRSharpe ratio · SRMax drawdown · MDD

03VERIFY

Structured verification

Financial Audit Verification

Can a reported XBRL fact be checked against its calculation context?

Perform targeted numeric-fact verification on organizer-packaged SEC EDGAR XBRL filing materials by comparing reported and calculation-derived values. This is not a full financial-statement audit.

01Filing package

02Reported + calculated values

03Match status

Data plan

Planned public filing cases with taxonomy metadata, followed by separately constructed held-out SEC filing cases subject to leakage review.

Score signals

ACC · correctSER · formatEER · extractionCER · calculation

02 / EVALUATION

A correct answer is the beginning—not the whole score.

FinReason is designed to separate plausible output from robust, verifiable performance.

Submission contract

Published task contracts will define machine-checkable predictions, traces, and actions.

Task scorer

Each track measures the capability it is designed to expose.

Hidden evaluation

Separately constructed held-out seeds and cases are planned to reduce memorization and leakage.

Reproducibility review

Final rules will specify the reproducibility materials required from eligible finalists.

Planned scorecardPROVISIONAL

01 / CHAINFinal-answer accuracyChainEval

02 / HEDGECumulative return · Sharpe ratioMaximum drawdown · provisional

03 / VERIFYACC · SEREER · CER

Final formulas, tolerances, tie-breaks, and validity rules will be published with the public scorers.

03 / TIMELINE

One source of truth as the competition comes online.

This organizer-maintained page keeps unconfirmed milestones marked TBD. Conference dates are confirmed; launch dates will be added only after organizer and IEEE verification.

NOW

Letter of Intent

Teams planning to participate can share their task interests and contact details.

TBD

Starter kits

Schemas, validators, baselines, and samples are being prepared.

TBD

Competition platform

The public submission path will be linked after organizer testing.

TBD

Private evaluation

A separately constructed held-out evaluation and reproducibility review are planned.

14–17 DEC

IEEE Big Data 2026

Phoenix, Arizona.

04 / PARTICIPANT ACCESS

Share your interest in FinReason Cup.

The LOI collects one response per team for challenge planning, organizer communication, and aggregate participation statistics. Technical participation and submission instructions will be released separately.

Review the three provisional technical tracks.

Use only links marked as verified on this page.

Follow this page for verified data, support, platform, and submission links.

Participant accessLOI OPEN

The Letter of Intent records one team response for challenge planning, organizer communication, and aggregate participation statistics. Technical participation and submission instructions will be released separately.

Letter of Intent: open
Starter kits and schemas: coming soon
Submission platform: coming soon
Participant support channel: coming soon

Submit LOI

Please submit one response per team. Google Forms opens in a new tab.

Data use

Responses are available only to the organizer team and are used for challenge operations, communication permitted by the form, and aggregate reporting. Do not include sensitive information. The participant support contact and correction or deletion process will be published here with the participant guidance.

View the IEEE Big Data Cup overview

05 / FAQ

What teams need to know now.

Details that are still under organizer review are stated as such, rather than presented as final rules.

How do teams submit a Letter of Intent?

Teams planning to participate should submit one LOI using the verified link on this page. Technical participation, starter kit, and submission instructions will be published separately after organizer verification.

Can a team enter more than one task?

Teams may indicate interest in any combination of tasks in the LOI. Final multi-task participation and submission rules will be published with the starter kits.

Where will the competition run?

The IEEE overview currently lists Kaggle with an organizer-run Docker evaluation path. The organizer team is validating the participant workflow; final verified platform and submission links will appear here.

Are cash prizes confirmed?

No FinReason cash prize or registration support is confirmed at this time. Award categories for task performance, reproducible open-source systems, and student teams remain provisional.

What happens after an LOI is submitted?

Google Forms displays a confirmation after submission. Follow this organizer-maintained site for verified starter kit, schedule, support, and submission updates.

How are LOI responses used?

Responses are used by the organizer team for challenge operations, communication permitted by the form, and aggregate participation statistics. Do not include sensitive information. The participant support contact and correction or deletion process will be published with the participant guidance.