As traders developed skills, these firms became launchpads for many successful CTA managers, such as Altis, BlueCrest and Beach Capital. And there is no guarantee that Winton can retain its staff and their clever ideas. “About 16 CTAs have spun out of this work over the years, so the answer is: you don’t keep people.” Despite big salaries, generous bonuses and share options, people leave to start their own enterprises. “There’s no intellectual property [IP] law in what we do. There is no patent, trademark or copyright. But we seem to do perfectly well without IP protection.” The acquisition of AHL by Man Investments is perhaps one reason why the London CTAs did not diversify their strategies, like Tudor Investment Corporation has done, Harding says. This was fortunate, because managed futures shot ahead of all other hedge fund strategies when the market crashed in 2008.