House No. 01 · Proprietary Trading
Assaf Trades runs the Group's own capital across equities, listed options and digital assets. There is no outside money in the book, no performance fee to chase and no quarter to dress. Every position carries a written thesis, a sizing rule and a level at which it is wrong.
The Books
Each book is run by a named principal with a hard capital allocation and its own drawdown limit. Books do not net against each other and may not borrow from one another mid‑period. When a book reaches its limit it stops — there is no appeal.
Concentrated long positions in listed businesses we would be content to own unquoted, plus a short book held strictly as a hedge against sector exposure rather than as a source of return.
Defined‑risk structures only. The desk sells premium against holdings it already owns, buys convexity ahead of known catalysts, and carries a standing long‑tail position that is expected to lose money in most years.
Majority‑liquid exposure to a short list of protocol assets, run with the same sizing discipline as the equity book. Custody is split across three qualified custodians; no asset is held on a trading venue overnight.
The remainder sits in short‑dated paper and cash, deliberately idle. It exists so that the other three books are never forced to sell into a market that is not offering a price we would accept.
Risk
Risk is not a committee that meets after the fact. Limits are set annually by the Group's Audit & Risk Committee, encoded in the order management system, and cannot be raised intraday by anyone — including the principal of the book concerned.
| Constraint | Applies to | Enforcement | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single‑position size | All books | Order rejected at entry | 6.0% |
| Book drawdown, peak to trough | Per book | Book flattens, trading suspended | 12.0% |
| Group drawdown, peak to trough | Consolidated | Escalation to Trustees | 18.0% |
| Gross leverage | Consolidated | Margin blocked above limit | 1.4× |
| Overnight venue balance | Digital assets | Automated sweep to custody | 0 |
| Uncovered short optionality | Options book | Prohibited by charter | 0 |
| Minimum cash reserve | Consolidated | New risk blocked below limit | 10.0% |
01
No position is opened without a one‑page thesis naming the catalyst, the size, the invalidation level and the expected holding period. The note is timestamped and cannot be edited afterwards.
02
Every position carries a price at which the thesis is void. Reaching it closes the position that session. Re‑entry requires a new note and a second signature.
03
Closed positions are scored quarterly against the original thesis, not against the outcome. A profitable trade that broke its own rules is recorded as a loss for review purposes.
Record
Figures are for the consolidated trading book, net of all costs, measured from the adoption of the current risk framework in January 2016. Past results describe what happened; they do not describe what will.
Contact
Assaf Trades trades the Group's own balance sheet and is not open to external subscription. Enquiries regarding managed capital, private credit or wealth mandates are handled by Assaf Finance. Counterparty, venue and prime brokerage enquiries are welcome.
Assaf Trades SA, Geneva. A wholly owned house of Assaf Industries. Nothing on this page is an offer, a solicitation or investment advice, and no part of it may be relied upon as a representation of future performance.
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