Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
Dunn Capital Management
The Stuart, Florida commodity trading advisor that physicist Bill Dunn founded in 1974 and that still runs, in its World Monetary and Agriculture (WMA) programme, what the firm describes as his original long-term trend-following algorithm — the purest and most volatile live test of trend following in this knowledge base. WMA has posted some of the largest gains any CTA reports — +51.46% in 2008 and +60.24% in 2022 (firm figures as listed by Michael Covel in Jan 2009 and, net of fees, by AutumnGold) — and one of the deepest drawdowns: −60.26% from early 2003, with a new high only in about August 2010 (fundpeak's CTA database, reported). Its story turns on discipline and survival in the edge equation: the edge is ordinary diversified trend following; what is unusual is that Dunn runs it at roughly twice the risk of most peers (a 99% one-month value-at-risk target of 20% in its original design), charges no management fee and only an incentive fee (25% of new profits, reported), and has kept its clients' and its own money in the same programme through drawdowns most investors would not sit through. It is a thin public record — a private firm, a few disclosure-document extracts, interviews and database pages — so this profile has nine moves and says where each figure comes from.
At a glance
- Founded
- Organised and incorporated in Delaware in September 1974; began managing commodity accounts in October 1974; registered with the CFTC as a CPO and CTA since 6 Feb 1976 and an NFA member (Dunn disclosure text in The Frontier Fund prospectus, SEC filing, Jan 2005)
- Founder
- William A. (Bill) Dunn, Ph.D., born 1934; B.S. engineering physics (Kansas, 1960), Ph.D. theoretical physics (Northwestern, 1966); operations-research work for the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Department of Defense in the Washington, D.C. area (1967–Nov 1974); research on the trading systems from 1971 (same filing)
- Headquarters
- Stuart, Florida (309 SE Osceola Street in the 2005 filing; Stuart is still the HQ per Top Traders Unplugged, May 2023)
- Ownership / structure
- Private. In 2005 a trust set up by Bill Dunn owned 100% of the stock (filing); since 2007 the firm has been led by Martin (Marty) Bergin, described as president and owner (fundpeak; Top Traders Unplugged, 2023). Now Dunn Capital Management, LLC (database listings; conversion date not found — verify)
- Leadership (2026)
- Marty Bergin, president and owner (joined Sep 1997 as accounting systems manager; CFO Mar 2001 — 2005 filing). Bill Dunn listed as a principal in later database entries (fundpeak, reported; verify current status)
- Programmes
- WMA (World Monetary and Agriculture; from Nov 1984; flagship, high volatility); WMA Institutional (WMAI; inception Nov 2011 per AutumnGold, targeting half WMA's volatility); historically Standard (Oct 1974), TOPS (May 1989), D-TOPS (Apr 1993), DCF (Apr 1999, a 50/50 WMA–TOPS blend), Dunn-Allani (1999–2003, closed) and Mosaic, a short-term pattern system (Opalesque, 2009)
- Fees
- No management fee; incentive fee only — 25% of new net trading profits in WMA and WMAI (AutumnGold listing; Hedgeweek, Jun 2014; the Frontier Fund's Dunn Series, 2005)
- Scale (dated, reported)
- Total nominal funds ~$981m (Oct 2003) and ~$1.18bn (Nov 2004), of which ~$946m actual funds (SEC filings); WMA ~$308m and WMAI ~$100m (Jun 2014, Hedgeweek); ~$1.4bn firm-wide (2023, Top Traders Unplugged); AutumnGold lists WMA at ~$1.04bn and WMAI at ~$883m (undated, 2026 page — verify)
- Regulators
- CFTC (CTA and CPO registration) and the NFA; disclosure documents under CFTC Part 4 rules (17)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding and the Standard programme (1974); WMA launch (1984); TOPS and the DCF blend (1989–99); the 1999–2000 −44.5% drawdown and rebound; the 2003–2010 −60% drawdown and the closed Frontier Dunn Series (2004–05); portfolio-level redesign and the Bergin era (2006–07); +51% in 2008; adaptive risk and WMA Institutional (2011–14); +60% in 2022 and −18% in 2023
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1974
Founding and the Standard Program
Founding or fund launch
1984
WMA Program Launch
New strategy, product or market
1989
TOPS and the DCF Combination
New strategy, product or market; leverage, sizing or risk-limit change
1999
The Forty Four Percent Drawdown and Rebound
Loss, drawdown or blow-up response
2003
The Sixty Percent Drawdown
Loss, drawdown or blow-up response (failure)
2006
Portfolio Redesign and the Bergin Era
Strategy pivot; hiring, spin-out or partner departure (succession)
2008
Crisis Alpha Year
Outcome of a large position set (crisis alpha); no new decision — the system's positions
2013
Adaptive Risk and WMA Institutional
Leverage, sizing or risk-limit change; new product (lower-risk share of the same programme)
2022
Inflation Trends and the 2023 Giveback
Outcome of a large position set; loss, drawdown or blow-up response (2023)