Rowayton, Connecticut-based Graham Capital Management, founded by chairman Kenneth Tropin in 1994, was a top-performer in 2008, while many of its competitors floundered. That year all thirteen of the trend-following hedge fund firm’s funds made money. In November 2007, Graham Capital intensified its risk management procedures and has held daily risk-management meetings ever since. This paid off in March 2008, when a partner recognized the impending insolvency of Bear, Stearns & Co. Tropin and the team acted immediately, moving trades away from Bear, and by year-end, most of Graham Capital’s funds posted returns between 20 and 52 percent. Tropin himself pocketed $120 million that year, qualifying him for Alpha’s Rich List in 2009. These high returns brought Graham Capital back into the top 100 largest hedge funds in the world in 2009 after a one-year hiatus…
