Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
BlueCrest Capital Management
The rates and relative-value hedge-fund firm that Michael Platt and William Reeves founded in 2000 after leaving JPMorgan's proprietary trading desks, which grew to a reported peak of ~$37bn (May 2013), spun off its BlueTrend systematic business as Systematica (2014–15), handed back all outside money from 1 December 2015, and has since run only its partners' and employees' capital. It is this knowledge base's clearest documented case of conflict risk inside a multi-trader platform: a US Securities and Exchange Commission order of 8 Dec 2020 found that from Oct 2011 to Dec 2015 BlueCrest moved almost half of its flagship client fund's rates and relative-value traders into an internal fund, BSMA, that was 93% owned by its executive committee, filled the gap in the client fund with an under-performing replication algorithm, and did not adequately disclose either — $170m in disgorgement, interest and penalty, all to be returned to investors (SEC release 2020-308; order, Securities Act Release No. 10896). The same firm, trading only its own money, has since reported some of the largest returns of any hedge fund (+153% in 2022, Bloomberg — reported, unaudited). Its story turns on edge versus survival of the client franchise in the edge equation: the traders' edge was real enough that the firm wanted it for itself; the way it took it cost the client business.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2000, by Michael Platt and William Reeves, senior proprietary traders at JPMorgan (Wikipedia, citing Forbes and Insider Monkey; Supreme Court and press coverage, Jul 2026)
- Founders
- Michael Platt (born 18 Mar 1968, Preston; LSE graduate 1991; JPMorgan from 1991, running swaps and options trading and later euro-area swaps trading — Wikipedia, partly uncited, verify); William Reeves (JPMorgan; later role not documented here — verify)
- Headquarters
- London originally; the adviser entity is a St Helier, Jersey company, which did business as BlueCrest Capital Management LLP before July 2014 (SEC order, 2020). Offices in New York, Boston, London and Geneva among others during 2011–15 (SEC order); Platt reportedly moved to Geneva in 2010 and to Jersey by Dec 2014 (Wikipedia, verify)
- Ownership / structure
- Private partnership. Since Jan 2016 a family office / private partnership trading only partners' and employees' capital (Platt's letter of 1 Dec 2015 as reported; SEC order)
- Type
- Rates and relative-value multi-trader hedge fund (2000–15); systematic trend arm BlueTrend (spun out as Systematica, 2014–15); since 2016 a proprietary partnership
- Flagship funds (to 2015)
- BlueCrest Capital International (BCI) — Cayman master-feeder, mainly rates and RV; BlueTrend — systematic trend (Leda Braga); BlueCrest AllBlue — multi-strategy fund of BlueCrest funds with a London-listed feeder (BlueCrest AllBlue Fund Ltd); BSMA Ltd (f/k/a BlueStar Master Fund) — internal fund from Oct 2011 (SEC order; Quoted Data, Dec 2015)
- Scale (dated, reported)
- ~$37bn peak (May 2013) and ~$27.1bn (Sep 2014) (Bloomberg, 26 Sep 2014); BCI ~$13.5bn (Jul 2013), ~$13.9bn (end-2013), ~$9.4bn (end-2014), ~$2.2bn (Dec 2015) (SEC order); Form ADV regulatory AUM ~$59.8bn (30 Mar 2016 — a regulatory measure that counts gross assets, not investor capital); ~$8bn of outside money when it announced the return of capital (Reuters/Sharecast, 1 Dec 2015)
- Regulators
- SEC-registered investment adviser Nov 2008–Aug 2018 (SEC order); Jersey Financial Services Commission (Jersey entity — verify); UK FCA for the London LLP (verify on the FCA register) (17)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding from JPMorgan (2000); BlueTrend and the 2008 payoff; the BSMA internal fund (2011); the RMT replication algorithm in BCI (2012–15); the consultant downgrades, redemptions and the Systematica split (2014); returning outside capital (Dec 2015); family-office returns (2016–25); the SEC order (Dec 2020); the HMRC salaried-members case (2021–26)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2000
Founding from the JPMorgan Rates Desk
Founding or fund launch; spin-out of bank proprietary traders
2004
BlueTrend Launch and the 2008 Payoff
New strategy (systematic trend following); outcome of a large position set (crisis alpha)
2011
BSMA Internal Fund
New fund (proprietary vehicle for personnel); conflict of interest — failure
2012
RMT Replication Algorithm
Technology bet (semi-systematic replication); control and disclosure failure
2014
Downgrades Redemptions and the Systematica Split
Loss of clients after a disclosure failure; spin-out of the systematic business
2015
Returning Outside Capital
Return of outside capital; closing client funds
2016
Family Office Returns
Strategy pivot (proprietary capital only); outcome
2020
SEC Order on BSMA
Regulatory or enforcement action (settled) — failure
2026
HMRC Salaried Members Ruling
Legal action (tax); compensation-structure dispute