City’s bright stars named
FORTY of the brightest young stars in the City will be named this morning, including brokers, traders, policy advisers, lawyers and analysts .
The list aims to celebrate the most innovative men and women under the age of 40 from trading and technology.
“Tempting as it might be to dismiss the individuals here as nerds and workaholics, the truth is more depressing: the list comprises marathon-runners, a junior ice hockey coach, a martial arts expert and a theology student to name but a few,” explained a spokesperson for Financial News, which compiled the list. New rules and regulations make this “a critical juncture” for the sector and along with greater consolidation are “creating both threats and opportunities for market participants,” it said.
RISING STARS OF THE CITY | THE HEDGE FUND THAT RUNS ON TWITTER
One notable name from the “40 under 40” list is Paul Hawtin (pictured). Founding Derwent Capital Markets in 2008, the co-owner and fund manager looks after a portfolio of equity indicies and liquid equities. Derwent Absolute Return Fund started trading in May this year, using algorithms and a trading model that follow comments posted on the social networking website, Twitter. Monitoring whether the usage of words such as “calm” or “vital” fall below or rise above average, sentiment-related data and external factors are analysed to trade the FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and Dow Jones Industrial Average indexes, along with currencies, precious metals and oil. It is believed that changing emotions conveyed online can cause a subsequent move in such indexes between two and six days later. Commenting on the launch of his Hedge Fund, Hawtin has said: “For years investors have widely accepted that financial markets are driven by fear and greed but we’ve never before had the technology or data to be able to quantify human emotion. This is the fourth dimension.”