Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
Ubiquant
The Beijing quantitative fund manager (九坤投资, Jiukun Investment) founded in April 2012 by Wang Chen and Yao Qicong — returnees from US quant firms (Millennium per 36Kr; WorldQuant per Wikipedia's sources) who came back to China to trade the new stock-index futures. It grew from a proprietary futures trader into one of China's "big four" quant managers, with ~$8bn (~RMB 52bn) in September 2021 (Bloomberg), ~RMB 60bn through 2024 (Bloomberg, reported), and a company-claimed ~RMB 80bn at end-2025 (company website via search — verify; one Bloomberg-based report says RMB 40–50bn in 2026). Its story is regulation and crowding in China's quant boom: a 39% fall in its offshore fund in January 2022, the February 2024 "quant quake" in small caps, DMA and snowball products, and the CSRC's 2024–25 programme-trading and high-frequency rules — followed by a 2025–26 revival in which a new fund raised RMB 2.6bn (~$384m) in under two hours (May 2026, Bloomberg). Like High-Flyer, it also turned its computing and AI labs toward general AI: an institute set up by its founders released the open IQuest-Coder models in January 2026.
At a glance
- Founded
- April 2012, Beijing; initially a proprietary commodity trading adviser (CTA) trading its own money (Sina 2022, via Wikipedia); registered with the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC) 2014
- Headquarters
- Beijing; offices in Shanghai (2017) and Shenzhen (2020); Hong Kong subsidiary Ubiquant Asset Management Co., Ltd (SFC, Nov 2021) (Wikipedia, citing company and Sina); a US office planned (Reuters, Apr 2024)
- Founders
- Wang Chen (Tsinghua computer-science PhD, supervised by Andrew Yao — 36Kr) and Yao Qicong (Peking University mathematics; master's in financial mathematics — 36Kr). Prior employer: Millennium (36Kr, Jan 2026) or WorldQuant (Wikipedia, citing Bloomberg 2021 and Sina) — sources differ
- Ownership / structure
- Private; founder-controlled (ownership split not found — verify)
- Type
- Quant fund (Chinese equity index-enhanced and long/short; CTA origins; offshore Asia-Pacific fund)
- Scale (dated, reported)
- ~$8bn (Sep 2021, Bloomberg); ~RMB 60bn, "largely stable" (2024, Bloomberg via search); $7.5bn (2024, Wikipedia infobox, unsourced); >RMB 60bn (36Kr, Jan 2026); ~RMB 80bn (Q4 2025, company website via search — unverified); RMB 40–50bn (2026, Bloomberg-based summary — conflicts); 167 staff (2024, Wikipedia)
- Returns (reported)
- Ubiquant Asia Pacific Quantitative Hedge Fund −39% in Jan 2022, then >+20% in Feb 2022 (Bloomberg, 14 Mar 2022); 2025 "nearly 57%" (aggregator citing PaiPaiWang — single secondary source, verify; may be confused with High-Flyer's 56.6%)
- Regulators
- CSRC; AMAC; Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing stock exchanges; China Financial Futures Exchange; Hong Kong SFC
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding as a futures CTA (2012); launching index-enhanced and long/short products (2016); AI Lab, Data Lab and the Beiming cluster (2018–20); the 2021 talent war and Hong Kong unit; the January 2022 offshore drawdown (failure); the 2024 quant quake and programme-trading rules (failure / enforcement); offshore expansion (2024); IQuest models and the 2026 fundraising
7 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2012
Founding as a Futures CTA
Founding
2016
Launching Index Enhanced Funds
New strategy, product or market (outside capital)
2019
AI Lab and the Beiming Cluster
Technology or infrastructure bet (AI)
2021
Talent War Hong Kong and the 2022 Drawdown
Hiring; new market (offshore fund); loss and drawdown (failure)
2024
Offshore Expansion and US Office
Strategy pivot (new markets and investor base)
2024
Quant Quake and Programme Trading Rules
Market shock and loss response (failure, industry-wide); regulatory action affecting the business
2026
IQuest Models and Record Fundraising
Technology spin-out (open AI models) / capital raise