Capula hires two energy futures traders in Switzerland

Capula Investment Management has hired Wouter Verdam from Freepoint Commodities and Jakob Stawiarz from Element Alpha to trade European and U.S. energy futures. Both began work at Capula this week; Verdam will be based in the firm’s Zug office and Stawiarz in Geneva.

Verdam joins Capula as a portfolio manager after more than seven years at Freepoint and earlier experience at Citigroup. Stawiarz arrives from Element Alpha and previously worked at Ocean Leonid Investments. People familiar with the appointments say the two will focus on futures contracts for European and U.S. energy markets.

The hires expand Capula’s trading presence in energy and commodities as markets have seen increased price swings and changing liquidity conditions. The traders will operate from Capula’s Switzerland offices and cover both regional and transatlantic futures flows.

Capula is a London-based hedge fund that manages about $35 billion. The firm was co-founded more than two decades ago by Yan Huo, who earlier established JPMorgan Chase’s fixed-income proprietary trading operation.

Freepoint and Element Alpha did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The appointments were reported by people who spoke on condition of anonymity because the firm had not publicly announced the hires.