A commodity pool is an investment structure where many individual investors combine their moneys and trade in futures contracts as a single entity in order to gain leverage. They are analogous to mutual funds wherein a fund is similarly set up expressly for trading in equity, except that mutual funds are open to public subscription whereas commodity pools and hedge funds are private.
Bridgewater Associates is an American investment management firm founded by Ray Dalio in 1975. The firm serves institutional clients including pension funds, endowments, foundations, foreign governments, and central banks.
Global macro is an investment strategy based on the interpretation and prediction of large-scale events related to national economies, history, and international relations. The strategy typically employs forecasts and analysis of interest rate trends, international trade and payments, political changes, government policies, inter-government relations, and other broad systemic factors.
A commodity broker is a firm or an individual who executes orders to buy or sell commodity contracts on behalf of the clients and charges them a commission. A firm or individual who trades for his own account is called a trader. Commodity contracts include futures, options, and similar financial derivatives. Clients who trade commodity contracts are either hedgers using the derivatives markets to manage risk, or speculators who are willing to assume that risk from hedgers in hopes of a profit.
An alternative investment, also known as an alternative asset or alternative investment fund (AIF), is an investment in any asset class excluding stocks, bonds, and cash. The term is a relatively loose one and includes tangible assets such as precious metals, collectibles and some financial assets such as real estate, commodities, private equity, distressed securities, hedge funds, exchange funds, carbon credits, venture capital, film production, financial derivatives, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and Tax Receivable Agreements. Investments in real estate, forestry and shipping are also often termed "alternative" despite the ancient use of such real assets to enhance and preserve wealth. Alternative investments are to be contrasted with traditional investments.
Liongate Capital Management was a global investment management firm, focused on creating and managing fund of hedge fund investments for institutional and private investors. Liongate, founded in 2003 by Jeff Holland, Ben Funk and Randall Dillard, managed a range of funds of hedge funds in both commingled funds and tailored, single client portfolios. The firm, which at it peak managed over USD 3 billion with an additional USD 4 billion in assets under advisory, had a global reach with offices in London, New York, Zurich, Dubai, Malta and Mumbai. The Liongate partners sold the firm to Principal Financial Group in 2013 as the large US insurer and asset manager wanted a hedge fund research platform in order to quickly ramp up retail hedge fund distribution in the US.
Raymond Thomas Dalio is an American billionaire investor and hedge fund manager, who has served as co-chief investment officer of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, since 1985. He founded Bridgewater in 1975 in New York. A $5 million investment from the World Bank's retirement fund was made within five years. His innovations are regarded as some of the best in the industry, having popularized many commonly used practices, such as risk parity, currency overlay, portable alpha and global inflation-indexed bond management.
Sir David Winton Harding is a British billionaire businessman, and the founder and CEO of Winton Group. He had previously co-founded Man AHL. His approach favours quantitative investment strategies, using scientific research as the basis of trading decisions.
Brevan Howard is a European hedge fund management company based in Jersey with its funds domiciled in the Cayman Islands. Brevan Howard was founded in 2002 by Alan Howard, alongside four other co-founders including Chris Rokos, and is widely considered to be one of the top global macro hedge funds.
Roy Gary Niederhoffer is an American hedge fund manager. He graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude in 1987, with a BA in computational neuroscience.
Winton Group, Ltd is a British investment management firm founded by David Harding. In the United States, Winton is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment advisor and with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a CTA, and is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. The company trades on more than 100 global futures markets in a wide variety of asset classes and on global equity markets. The firm was launched with $1.6 million in 1997, reached a peak of $28.5 billion in assets under advisement, before dropping to 7.3 billion by late 2020. Winton Group has seven offices around the world: London, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney, and Abu Dhabi.
A commodity trading advisor (CTA) is US financial regulatory term for an individual or organization who is retained by a fund or individual client to provide advice and services related to trading in futures contracts, commodity options and/or swaps. They are responsible for the trading within managed futures accounts. The definition of CTA may also apply to investment advisors for hedge funds and private funds including mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in certain cases. CTAs are generally regulated by the United States federal government through registration with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and membership of the National Futures Association (NFA).
A managed futures account (MFA) or managed futures fund (MFF) is a type of alternative investment in the US in which trading in the futures markets is managed by another person or entity, rather than the fund's owner. Managed futures accounts include, but are not limited to, commodity pools. These funds are operated by commodity trading advisors (CTAs) or commodity pool operators (CPOs), who are generally regulated in the United States by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the National Futures Association. As of June 2016, the assets under management held by managed futures accounts totaled $340 billion.
Blue Harbour Group was an American investment firm that managed capital for pension funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, labor unions and other institutional investors. The company was based in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Quality Capital Management Ltd is a UK-based hedge fund specialising in managed futures. The company was founded by Aref Karim in 1995 and its headquarters is in Weybridge, Elmbridge, Surrey, England.
Ospraie Management, LLC is a New York City-based investment management firm that invests in commodities and basic industries worldwide across public and private markets. The company, through its venture arm, makes agriculture-focused investments that seek to reduce environmental impact.
Aspect Capital is a London-based investment manager that applies a systematic and quantitative approach to investment management. According to the Financial Times, Aspect uses "technology and complex mathematical models to power computers that trade the world's markets around the clock". Aspect manages USD6.6bn.
Geode Capital Management, LLC (Geode) is an American investment management firm based in Boston, Massachusetts.
BNY Mellon Investment Management is the investment management division of BNY Mellon. It is one of the largest asset managers in the world with $2.4 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2021. BNY IM uses seven different specialized investment managers, each with its own strategy and expertise to manage investments.
Graham Capital Management (GCM) is an American hedge fund headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. The firm has a focus on global macro investing. It has additional offices in Florida and London.
