China’s quantitative funds have built trading strategies so closely tailored to the mainland market that foreign rivals cannot replicate them, even as a regulatory clampdown on trading speed reshapes the industry, according to a prominent economist. “But when they come to mainland China, they cannot beat Chinese quants .” The reason, Xia said, lies in China’s unique valuation logic for state-owned enterprises, whose state-backed financing advantages create pricing dynamics that traditional foreign models fail to capture. Frequent administrative policy interventions such as initial public offering suspensions and policy-driven trading halts become trading signals that outside models struggle to replicate, he added. The comments from Xia, who has also advised the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), came as Beijing tightens its grip on the quant trading industry.