Ex-Morgan Stanley traders launch alternatives firm

Date: Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Author: Hedge Fund Journal

Cinneas Foreign Exchange LLC, an alternative investment management firm specializing in momentum based trading in the foreign exchange market, has announced the launch of a Commodity Trading Advisor. Created for individual investors and institutions, Cinneas actively manages a diversified foreign exchange portfolio using proprietary technical and fundamental methodology developed over its principals' combined 30 years at premier Wall Street firms.

The Cinneas investment process combines technical, fundamental and intraday market flow analysis with the careful application of leverage for the purpose of delivering non-correlated returns, preserving capital and mitigating risk. The firm follows both long and short term trends in the foreign exchange currency market to provide maximum exposure during large moves, and limiting exposure at turning points. The firm then exploits momentum and carefully applies and manages leverage to realize gains with greater probability. Recognizing that many investors lack the resources or knowledge to trade the FX market, Cinneas offers a low barrier to entry with a minimum investment of $5,000 with no lock-up period.

Cinneas was founded by Morgan Stanley veterans Michael Myrtetus and Douglas Borthwick. Messrs. Myrtetus and Borthwick met in 1996 when Douglas joined Morgan Stanley's foreign exchange trading team. At that time Morgan Stanley's FX business had revenues approximating $200 million. Over the 9 years they worked together, the business grew to approximately $1 billion, with Mr. Myrtetus running the spot FX business and Mr. Borthwick running the forwards and NDF businesses.

"We believe that an actively managed, globally diverse portfolio can adapt and grow with the changing markets," said Douglas Borthwick, Managing Partner. "Our approach draws upon global economic, fundamental, and technical analysis to identify momentum trading opportunities, with the ultimate goal of producing non-correlated risk-adjusted returns."

Michael Myrtetus was with Morgan Stanley from 1989 until 2007, most recently serving as Chief Spot Dealer. From 2007 to 2008, Mr. Myrtetus was with Barclays Bank where he was brought in as a Senior Dealer to increase their risk taking and market making capabilities. A native of Scotland, Douglas Borthwick joined Morgan Stanley in 1996 after graduating from the Yale MBA program. During his time at Morgan Stanley, Mr. Borthwick traded Latin American and Asian NDFs, along with G7 forwards and interest rate futures in New York and London, ultimately becoming Head Trader for the forwards desk and the Asian NDF products. Mr. Borthwick then accepted a proprietary trading position at Merrill Lynch, and two years later a position at Standard Chartered Bank where he significantly increased trading revenues and built up their Latin American trading capability by marketing throughout Asia.

"The foreign exchange market is the largest and most liquid market in the world, with over $3 trillion traded daily," said Michael Myrtetus, Managing Partner. "It is growing in popularity as an asset class with pension funds, hedge funds, university endowments and high net worth individuals, in an effort to enhance the diversification portfolios. Retail investors know they need greater diversification in their portfolios as they begin to question buy and hold strategies in equities and fixed income."