A hamster has been trading cryptocurrencies in a cage rigged to automatically buy and sell tokens since June - and it's currently outperforming the S&P 500

Huat Zai · September 27, 2021

A hamster in Germany is redefining "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" author Burton Malkiel's belief that a blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a stock ticker list in the newspaper could do just as good as a human investment professional.

The livestreamed hamster, named Mr. Goxx, has been independently trading a portfolio of various cryptocurrencies since June 12, and so far its performance has been impressive. As of Friday, the portfolio was up nearly 24%, according to the @mrgoxx twitter feed that documents daily performance, along with every trade made by the hamster. Mr. Goxx's performance outpaces bitcoin and the S&P 500 over the same time period.

Mr. Goxx's caretaker built the "Goxx Box," a crypto-rigged office attached to its larger home that gives the hamster the ability to perform various exercises that then execute specific cryptocurrency trades. The hamster can enter its office whenever it wants to make trades.

First, Goxx runs on the "intention wheel" to pick which one of about 30 cryptocurrencies to trade. Once the crypto is chosen, the hamster runs through one of two "decision tunnels" that trigger either a buy or sell trade of the chosen cryptocurrency.

The top cyptocurrencies currently held by the hamster include Tron, Ripple's XRP, cardano's ada, and ether.

Goxx's portfolio was funded with the euro equivalent of $390, according to a report from Protos. Mr. Goxx's unidentified caretaker and business partner told Protos that the trades the hamster makes are automatically set to 20 euro increments.

"There are plans to give Mr. Goxx more control and let him intentionally pick his buy amount if the interest in his channel keeps growing," the business partner told Protos.

Mr. Goxx has so far generated profits of 77 euros as of Friday afternoon. Its portfolio hit a high of nearly $580 in mid-September, when its performance was up nearly 50% in less than three months, according to performance data compiled by Protos. But since then, the recent crypto sell-off put a dent into the hamster's profits.

But a profit is a profit, and Mr. Goxx likely understands that. "Mr. Goxx is happy to see that some of his investments finally pay off," the business partner told Protos.