Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
Aspect Capital
The London systematic manager founded in September 1997 by four AHL alumni — Anthony Todd, Martin Lueck, Michael Adam and Eugene Lambert — that has run its flagship Aspect Diversified Programme, a medium-term trend-following strategy, continuously since December 1998 and has stayed a trend specialist while its sibling Winton moved away. The flagship's record shows the trend cycle in one firm: +27.29% in 2008 (representative fund, net — SEC filing), losses in 2012–13 and a 17% fall in assets, +40.46% in 2022 — "its best performance in 24 years of trading" — and then a −21.64% twelve months to May 2025 (Aspect accounts and insight paper). Because Aspect Capital Limited files audited group accounts at UK Companies House, the business side is visible too: profit before tax swung from £133.8m in 2022 to a £21.3m loss in 2023 on the same fee model. Its story turns on discipline and survival in the edge equation — keep the trend product pure, add separate products around it, and run a balance sheet that can carry loss years.
At a glance
- Founded
- Team formed Sep 1997 (SEC filing, Apr 2011; Aspect leadership page); Aspect Capital Ltd incorporated 12 Jan 1998 as Lennoxdove Ltd, named Enigma Capital Ltd from Jun 1998 to Jul 1999 (Companies House); Aspect Diversified trading from 15–16 Dec 1998 with $22m (Aspect paper, Jul 2025; SEC capsule; Wikipedia)
- Founders
- Anthony Todd (AHL Mar 1992–Oct 1997, director of financial engineering and product development, then marketing in Switzerland; physics, Oxford; MBA, INSEAD); Martin Lueck (co-founded AHL in Feb 1987 with Michael Adam and David Harding; at AHL to Apr 1996; physics, Oxford); Michael Adam; Dr Eugene Lambert (SEC filing, Apr 2011)
- Seed capital
- Mostly from the fund-of-funds manager RMF (Wikipedia; verify)
- Headquarters
- 10 Portman Square, London (since 2013; previously 103 Wigmore Street — 2013 accounts); offices in Stamford, Connecticut and Shanghai (aspectcapital.com, 2026)
- Ownership / structure
- Private; employees may join "the Group's equity ownership scheme" and defer pay into a Management Incentive Scheme (2025 accounts); founders' and outside stakes not disclosed (verify). A certified B Corporation since 14 Jun 2022, recertified Oct 2025 (score 87.5)
- Leadership (2026)
- Anthony Todd, CEO; Martin Lueck, Research Director and President (also on the NFA board); Christopher Reeve, CIO (joined Jan 2005); Kenneth Hope, CFO; John Springett, COO; Keith Jarvis, Chief Commercial Officer; Razvan Remsing, Chief Product Strategist (aspectcapital.com)
- Programmes (2026)
- Trend following (Aspect Diversified; Aspect Core Diversified, 2014; Aspect Alternative Markets, ~2017); Absolute Return (May 2016; multi-model, multi-asset); Systematic Global Macro; Multi-Strategy; China programmes (onshore and, from May 2026, offshore China Absolute Return); customised solutions
- Scale (dated)
- $22m (Dec 1998); $4.65bn incl. notional, $2.76bn excl. (Feb 2011, SEC); $6.75bn (1 Jan 2013); $5.59bn (1 Jan 2014); $4.98bn (1 Jan 2016); $5.87bn (1 Jan 2017); $6.74bn (end-2018); $7.34bn (end-2019); $8.8bn (Jul 2021); $9.9bn (end-2022); $7.7bn (end-2023); $8.9bn (end-2024); $8bn (end-2025) — Aspect accounts and releases; website "over $10bn" (undated, 2026 — verify)
- Financials (audited, GBP)
- Profit before tax £11.3m (2012), −£1.7m (2013), £42.7m (2015), £0.6m (2016), −£9.9m (2018), −£3.6m (2019), £4.5m (2021), £133.8m (2022), −£21.3m (2023), £4.7m (2024), −£3.5m (2025); fee income £49.6m (2023), £68.5m (2024), £43.7m (2025)
- Regulators
- FCA (UK); CFTC-registered CTA and NFA member since Oct 1999; SEC-registered adviser since Oct 2003; SFC licence (Hong Kong) from Jun 2008; AMAC private fund manager (China) from 13 Dec 2024 (Wikipedia; Aspect press release)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1997
Founding by AHL Alumni
Founding or fund launch; spin-out of a founding team from AHL/Man
2004
US Expansion and Broker Sold Funds
Distribution and market entry; regulatory registration
2008
Crisis Alpha and the Stock Sector Sleeve
Outcome of a position set (crisis alpha); new strategy (a proprietary "Stock Sector Strategy" inside the flagship)
2012
Lean Years and the 2013 Loss
Loss and drawdown; restructuring and relocation (failure, then recovery)
2016
Auriel Acquisition and Absolute Return
Acquisition (team and assets); new strategies beside the trend flagship
2017
Alternative and Chinese Markets
New markets and products — trend models applied to less accessible markets; an onshore China business
2022
Best Year in Twenty Four Years
Outcome of a position set (crisis alpha) — keeping the trend flagship intact through the lean decade
2025
Tariff Drawdown and the Multi Model Turn
Loss and drawdown with outflows (failure in part); research pivot toward multi-model portfolios and new markets