Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
Capital Fund Management (CFM)
The Paris quantitative manager that Jean-Pierre Aguilar founded in 1991 with a managed-futures programme (Discus), and that became a physics laboratory when it merged in 2000 with Science & Finance, the research firm the physicist Jean-Philippe Bouchaud had founded in 1994 (CFM). Its story turns on econophysics and published research: CFM publishes much of what it learns about markets — price impact, trend following over two centuries, why risk premia are paid for skewness — while keeping its trading models private. Assets rose from just over $1bn (2005) to >$10bn (2017) (CFM), fell to about $6.5bn around 2020 (Business Insider, Dec 2025, reported), then grew to ~$21bn (Sep 2025) and "$36bn+" (Sep 2026) (CFM website), while the flagship Stratus fund was closed to new money and ~$2bn was handed back to investors in Nov 2025 to protect capacity (Bloomberg via Hedgeweek, reported). Its worst documented operational shock was the Aug 2007 Sentinel Management Group collapse, which froze cash the funds held there; CFM reportedly recouped the losses by the end of 2007 (Opalesque, Oct 2009).
At a glance
- Founded
- 1991, Paris, by Jean-Pierre Aguilar (CFM website); Wikipedia adds Bruno Combier as co-founder, citing a self-published source (verify). The current French company, Capital Fund Management SA (SIREN 395 083 504), was registered on 19 May 1994 (French business register API) — the firm dates itself from the 1991 programme
- Research arm
- Science & Finance, founded 1994 by Jean-Philippe Bouchaud; merged with CFM in 2000 (CFM website)
- Headquarters
- 23 rue de l'Université, Paris 7e (Form ADV); offices in New York (2006), London (2013), Toronto (2024) and Shanghai (2026) (CFM website)
- Ownership
- Private; senior staff and employees plus a minority outside holder. Dyal Capital Partners (then part of Neuberger Berman) bought 25% from Aguilar's estate at the end of 2011 (The Hedge Fund Journal, Jun 2012); Navigator Global Investments (ASX: NGI) took over Dyal's stake in 2021 as one of six manager stakes (NGI). Form ADV (Mar 2026) lists NGI Strategic Australia Pty Ltd as a shareholder since Jan 2021 at 10–25%, and Bouchaud, Potters, Saulière and Jordan each at 10–25%
- Leadership (2026)
- Jean-Philippe Bouchaud (chairman and chief scientist), Philippe Jordan (president), Jacques Saulière (CEO), Marc Potters (CIO), Laurent Laloux (chief product officer) (CFM board page)
- Programmes
- Discus (multi-asset futures, 1991); Stratus (flagship multi-strategy, 2003; closed to new money); ISTrends (2013) and ISTrends Equity Capped (2019); Systematic Global Macro (2020); Cumulus (2024) and Portable Alpha Cumulus (2025) (CFM website)
- Scale (dated)
- >$1bn (2005); $2.6bn across four funds (Oct 2009, Opalesque); $5.8bn (Jun 2012, THFJ); >$10bn (2017, CFM); ~$6.5bn (~2020, BI, reported); ~$18bn (Jun 2025, BI); ~$21bn peak (Sep 2025, reported); $27bn (May 2026, Caproasia); $29bn (Apr 2026, Wikipedia); $36bn+ (Sep 2026, CFM website). Headcount 260 (end-2020) → ~450 (Dec 2025) (BI); Form ADV: 348 employees, 94 in investment functions (Mar 2026 filing)
- US regulatory figures
- SEC-registered adviser since 7 Apr 2003 (IAPD); regulatory AUM $13.38bn, all discretionary, 15 accounts (Form ADV filed 26 Mar 2026, fiscal year to Dec 2025). This covers the vehicles reported to the SEC, not the whole firm (see section 5)
- Regulators
- France's AMF (portfolio-management company; licence number not checked — verify); US SEC and CFTC (THFJ, 2012); UK FCA for the London LLP (verify register entry)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding and Discus (1991); merging with Science & Finance (2000); launching Stratus (2003); the Sentinel freeze (2007, failure); founder's death and the Dyal stake (2009–11); publishing trend and risk-premia research (2011–17); the asset trough and rebuild (2017–20, partly a failure); capacity, fees and returning capital (2024–26)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1991
Founding CFM and Discus
Founding or fund launch
2000
Merger with Science and Finance
Acquisition or merger; strategy pivot
2003
Launching Stratus Multi Strategy
New strategy or product
2007
Sentinel Collapse and Frozen Redemptions
Counterparty or clearing event; loss response (failure)
2011
Founder Succession and the Dyal Stake
Ownership change and leadership succession
2014
Publishing Trend and Risk Premia Research
Strategy / research publication (a deliberate choice to publish)
2020
Asset Trough and Systematic Global Macro
Loss, drawdown or asset-decline response (partly a failure); new product
2025
Stratus Capacity Fee Rise and Capital Return
Fee change and return of outside capital; new product