Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion

Winton Capital (Winton Group)

The London quantitative manager that David Harding founded in 1997 after leaving AHL, which grew from $1.6m at launch to $33.8bn of assets under advisement at the end of 2015 — one of the largest trend-following businesses in the world — and then did what no other large CTA did: it decided trend following was "working less well than over the preceding four decades" (Harding, Winton Group annual report 2018) and cut its weight in the flagship Winton Fund from about half to about a quarter or a third. The flagship fell ~21% in 2020, firm assets fell to $7.0bn at the end of 2020, and the 2022 trend boom that followed was captured mainly by the managers that had kept trend. Since 2022 Winton has rebuilt — $14.3bn at end-2025, with "Diversified CTA strategies" back at 61% of assets (Companies House filings) — so its story is a test of the discipline and adaptation factor in the edge equation: adapting a research programme is necessary, but changing the product clients bought is a different decision, and Winton paid for confusing the two. Because Winton Group files audited group accounts at UK Companies House, its revenue, profit, headcount and assets are better documented than those of most private trend followers, and this profile uses them throughout.

At a glance

Founded: Winton Capital Management Ltd incorporated 3 Feb 1997 (as Templeco 334 Ltd, renamed 4 Feb 1997 — Companies House); trading began Oct 1997 with $1.6m (Wikipedia, citing Risk, Jun 2013)
Founder: Sir David Harding (born 24 Aug 1961); natural sciences, Cambridge (first, 1982); Wood Mackenzie, Johnson Matthey & Wallace, Sabre Fund Management (1985); co-founded AHL with Michael Adam and Martin Lueck in 1987; left Man in 1996 (Wikipedia, citing FOW, Oct 2006, and Barron's, Jun 2009); knighted in the 2022 New Year Honours for philanthropy
Headquarters: London (registered office 20 Old Bailey, EC4M 7AN — Companies House, 2026); six offices worldwide at end-2025 (Winton Group accounts)
Ownership / structure: Private. Holding company Winton Group Ltd (incorporated 4 Oct 2013 as Winton Capital Group Ltd, renamed 27 Jul 2016). Harding became majority owner in 2012 (Wikipedia, citing Financial News, Jan 2012); Goldman Sachs's Petershill fund took 9.99% in Jul 2007 and sold it to Affiliated Managers Group in 2016 (Wikipedia, citing Reuters, Oct 2007 — the AMG sale verify)
Leadership (2026): Harding signed the 2025 accounts as a director; he described himself as "Founder, CEO & Co-CIO" in the 2018 annual report. Claudia Harding is a director (Companies House, 2023 filing). Current executive titles beyond these not confirmed (verify)
Strategies (2026): Multi-Strategy (the Winton Fund and Winton Multi-Strategy UCITS: trend, global macro, equity long-short); Diversified CTA / Diversified Macro futures strategies; Trend (Winton Trend Fund UCITS, Major-Market Trend Strategy, Systematic Universal Momentum); China-focused onshore strategies; equity strategies (Winton Group accounts 2018–2025; factsheets, Oct 2026)
Scale (dated): Assets under advisement (AuA): $28.4bn (end-2014), $33.8bn (end-2015, the peak in the filings), $32bn (end-2016), $28.5bn (end-2017), $23.6bn (end-2018), $19.8bn (end-2019), $7.0bn (end-2020), $7.5bn (end-2021), $10.0bn (end-2022), $13.1bn (end-2024), $14.3bn (end-2025) — Winton Group annual reports; $19.0bn (Oct 2026, fund factsheet, internal estimate where administrator data unavailable)
Financials (audited, GBP): Net revenue £261.5m (2017) → £188.1m (2018) → £153.6m (2019) → £87.0m (2020) → £56.4m (2021) → £143.7m (2022) → £93.5m (2024) → £107.3m (2025); profit before tax (FRS 102) £125.4m (2017), £18.5m (2020), £59.3m (2022), £19.7m (2025)
Regulators: FCA (UK); SEC (investment adviser) and CFTC/NFA (CTA) in the US; Central Bank of Ireland (UCITS management company Winton Fund Management Ireland DAC); Asset Management Association of China (Shanghai PFM, 2019)
Signature moves (incl. failures): Founding after AHL (1997); non-trend signals and the Merrill Lynch platform (2004–05); Goldman's Petershill stake (2007); the 2008 crisis year; equities in the flagship and the 2012 outflows (2010–12); peak assets and expansion (2015); cutting trend (2018); the 2020 loss and asset collapse; 2022 and the return to trend (2022–26)

9 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 After AHL
Founding or fund launch; partner departure (from AHL/Man)
2004
Non Trend Signals and the Merrill Platform
New strategy (non-trend futures signals) and distribution (a US public futures fund)
2007
Goldman Petershill Stake
Capital raise — sale of a minority equity stake to an outside investor
2008
Crisis Year and the Asset Surge
Outcome of a position set (crisis alpha), followed by rapid asset growth
2010
Equities in the Flagship and the 2012 Outflows
New strategy (long-short equity systems in the flagship; equity funds) followed by a losing year and redemptions
2015
Peak Assets and Global Expansion
Growth and expansion (offices, staff, products, ventures); fee change (2017)
2018
Cutting Trend in the Flagship
Strategy pivot — reducing trend following's weight in the flagship Winton Fund; product restructuring
2020
The Twenty Percent Loss and Asset Collapse
Loss and drawdown; redemptions; restructuring (failure)
2022
The Trend Year and the Return to Trend
Recovery; product re-weighting toward trend and futures; commercial strategy built on separate products

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