David Harding

David Harding studied physics at Cambridge University before entering the financial industry. In 1987 he co-founded AHL (Adam, Harding & Lueck) alongside Michael Adam and Martin Lueck, a systematic futures trading company that was later acquired by Man Group. AHL became the flagship fund of Man Investments and one of the world's largest CTAs. In 1997 Harding left Man Group to found Winton Group, with the vision of building a research institution that rigorously applies the scientific method to financial markets. Under his leadership Winton grew from a small startup to managing approximately $30 billion at peak, making it one of the largest independent CTAs in the world. Winton publishes academic research and emphasises a culture of scientific inquiry unusual in the hedge fund industry — the firm employs hundreds of scientists from physics, mathematics, statistics, and computer science. Its trading strategies are primarily trend-following and statistical, spanning futures across equities, bonds, currencies, and commodities. Harding is a prominent advocate for the view that financial markets exhibit genuine statistical regularities that careful research can exploit. He has also been a notable philanthropist in science education, donating substantial sums to Cambridge and the Francis Crick Institute.