Hedge Fund Uses Algae to Reap 21% Return
- Desmond Lun’s AI trading model draws on computational biology
- Biologists are ‘kicking butt’ in data science, professor says
A research associate displays petri dishes with algae in San Diego, California, on March 26, 2012.
Photographer: David Maung/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Hedge fund manager Desmond Lun’s 21 percent average return over the last four years springs from an unlikely source -- a petri dish of algae.
Lun, 37, is a new kind of quant, combining AI wizardry with old-school biology to trade futures. Although his Taaffeite Capital Management is small, Lun makes a big claim: His research into one of the natural world’s most byzantine systems -- the biological cell -- has given him an edge in untangling the secrets of financial markets.