• August 20, 2026
• - 9:06 am

Capula Investment Management has hired two experienced energy traders as the hedge fund expands its presence in energy and commodities markets amid heightened volatility across the sector, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report cites unnamed people familiar with the appointments as revealing that Wouter Verdam has joined from Freepoint Commodities as a portfolio manager, while Jakob Stawiarz has moved from Element Alpha.

Both started at Capula this week and will trade European and US energy futures, the people said.

Verdam is based in Capula’s Zug office in Switzerland and spent more than seven years at Freepoint. He previously worked at Citigroup. Stawiarz is joining the firm’s Geneva operation and previously worked at Ocean Leonid Investments.

Freepoint and Element Alpha reportedly did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

London-based Capula manages about $35bn and was co-founded more than two decades ago by Yan Huo, who previously established JPMorgan Chase’s fixed-income proprietary trading operation.