PETER MULLER

Born in 1963. Studied mathematics at Princeton, graduating with honors in 1985.

Spent the next seven years at BARRA, the Berkeley financial analytics firm, building risk models. Joined Morgan Stanley in 1992 and founded Process Driven Trading (PDT) as an internal group in 1993.

The desk became one of the most profitable proprietary trading operations on Wall Street, generating an estimated $6 billion in profits over two decades.

PDT was spun out of Morgan Stanley in 2013 because the Volcker Rule restricted banks from proprietary trading. Muller took the team independent as PDT Partners, which managed over $6 billion by 2019.

The firm uses statistical arbitrage strategies across global equities. Forbes put his 2018 earnings at roughly $150 million.

Outside finance, Muller is a serious musician. He has released six studio albums, including Dissolve (2019), Spaces (2022) and More Time (2024).

His single San Diego (When You Coming Home) reached No. 27 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart in March 2020.

He has opened for Lisa Loeb, Livingston Taylor and Howie Day, and played the Montreux Jazz Festival. He sees mathematics and music as deeply connected — both are about finding patterns and creating harmony from complexity.

Founder and CEO of PDT Partners, which spun out of Morgan Stanley in 2013. Ran Morgan Stanley's Process Driven Trading desk from 1993 to 2012.

PDT managed over $6 billion by 2019 using statistical arbitrage strategies. Also a performing musician with six studio albums.

Pure quantitative statistical arbitrage. Muller's approach identifies pricing inefficiencies across thousands of equities using mathematical models.

Positions are typically held for days to weeks. The strategy is market-neutral — designed to make money regardless of whether markets go up or down.

Building PDT from a small Morgan Stanley desk into a multi-billion-dollar profit machine. The desk generated an estimated $6 billion over two decades using strategies Muller and his team developed.

The successful transition to an independent firm in 2013 after the Volcker Rule was a second major achievement.

The transition period during the Morgan Stanley spinoff was challenging. Moving from a bank balance sheet to raising independent capital required a different skill set, and some of PDT's strategies were harder to execute at smaller scale without Morgan Stanley's infrastructure.

Markets are inefficient in small, temporary ways. The key is finding those inefficiencies before they disappear and exploiting them at scale.

Muller does not believe in big macro bets or concentrated positions. He believes in many small, statistically favorable trades.

Private about personal life. Lives in New York.

Known for his dual life as a quant trader and musician. Has performed at charity events and music venues across Manhattan.

Princeton University (BA in Mathematics, with honors, 1985). He went straight from Princeton to the financial analytics firm BARRA in Berkeley, where he spent seven years before Wall Street.

He has no graduate degree — the mathematical training that underpins PDT's strategies is Princeton plus seven years of building risk models in practice.

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