Winners are selected at the Alchemist team's discretion. Factors include:

• Thesis quality — depth and originality
• Return — idea performance
• User Activity — ideas posted, likes, and comments

Prize amounts and number of winners will increase as the platform grows.

Monthly winners selected at the end of each month. The team looks at ideas from the previous month to allow for all ideas submitted during that period to have at least a month of trading history. For example, at the end of February, all ideas submitted in January are evaluated so that an idea submitted on January 30 has a month of trading history.