Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
Tudor Investment Corp
The Stamford, Connecticut, macro firm that Paul Tudor Jones founded in November 1980 after learning to trade cotton futures, which made its name by profiting from the stock-market crash of 19 Oct 1987 — +125.9% after fees in 1987 in his main fund (NYT via CNBC, Mar 2014; other sources give 62% in October and ~200% for the year, which may refer to a different vehicle — see below) — and the Japanese bubble's burst in 1990 (+87.4%, same sources), and whose flagship Tudor BVI Global fund compounded at close to 19.5% a year over its life to 2013 (investor materials as reported by the NYT, Mar 2014), with only one losing year, 2008 (−4.9%). It is the archetype of discretionary macro run with strict risk rules: a trader-led book in futures, currencies, rates and equity indices, sized to conviction but cut fast when wrong. Its later history is the lesson of the 2010s macro drought — weaker returns (~5% a year 2010–12), fee cuts in 2012 and 2016, ~$1bn of redemptions in one quarter and ~15% of staff laid off in Aug 2016 — and of a founder's public re-positioning: in May 2020 Jones's letter "The Great Monetary Inflation" told investors that BVI Global might hold a low single-digit percentage in bitcoin futures as an inflation hedge. Tudor also paid the SEC an $800,000 penalty in 1996 over 1994 short sales that broke the uptick rule (SEC Litigation Release 15038). Tudor has never published audited returns; every figure here is reported.
At a glance
- Founded
- November 1980 by Paul Tudor Jones II; Commodities Corporation gave it $30,000 to manage as an early client (Wikipedia, reported)
- Headquarters
- Stamford, Connecticut (Wikipedia); other offices in London and elsewhere (from memory, verify)
- Ownership / structure
- Private; controlled by Jones
- Leadership (2026)
- Paul Tudor Jones, founder, chairman and CIO (from memory, verify current titles)
- Type
- Discretionary global macro hedge fund with systematic and equity strategies (Tudor Tensor, a systematic fund — NYT via CNBC, 2014)
- Flagship
- Tudor BVI Global Fund (launched 1986 — secondary, verify)
- Scale (dated, reported)
- Four funds ~$13.6bn incl. BVI Global ~$10.3bn (early 2014, NYT via CNBC); firm ~$11.6bn (May 2016, Bloomberg via FA-Mag); BVI Global ~$7bn (Aug 2016, HSBC via CNBC) and ~$3.7bn (Oct 2020, HSBC, secondary — verify); firm ~$12bn (2022, Wikipedia). Wikipedia also lists ~$106bn of assets — this is Form ADV regulatory AUM (gross, including leverage), not investor capital: Form ADV aggregators (Private Fund Data, AltStreet, Equibles; CRD 159792) show ~$106.0–106.8bn regulatory/gross private-fund assets in the 2026 filing and ~$83.6bn in the 2025 filing (secondary readings of Form ADV; IAPD not o
- Staff
- 409 (Mar 2016 SEC filing, via CNBC); ~60 cut in Aug 2016 (~15%); 406 in 2025 (Wikipedia)
- Regulators
- SEC (registered adviser); CFTC/NFA (CTA/CPO — Tudor began as a commodity trading adviser)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding from the cotton pit (1980); the 1987 crash call; shorting Japan (1990); the SEC short-sale case (1994 trades, 1996 settlement); the only losing year and the Pallotta split (2008); fee cuts, redemptions and layoffs (2012–16); bitcoin as an inflation hedge (2020)
7 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1980
Founding from the Cotton Pit
Founding
1987
Black Monday Call
Large trade or position
1990
Shorting the Japan Bubble
Large trade or position
1996
SEC Short Sale Rule Settlement
Regulatory, enforcement or legal action (settled; failure)
2008
Only Losing Year and the Pallotta Split
Loss response / partner departure / systematic-fund outcome
2016
Fee Cuts Redemptions and Layoffs
Fee change / restructuring / loss of capital (failure)
2020
Bitcoin as an Inflation Hedge
New market / position (an allocation guideline)