ABOUT

We apply a rigorous data driven process, because we want to deliver better outcomes for our clients.

We are located in the mountains of Utah
Our mindset, motivation, and methods are materially different:
We thrive in a rigorously academic environment where every assumption and every convention is challenged
We continuously test and validate our strategies in pursuit of the absolute best possible outcomes for our clients
We apply innovative mathematical, statistical, and visualization techniques to deliver these outcomes
With more than a decade of experience managing institutional capital, trading, research and computational mathematics our team brings a unique experience to wealth management.
Founder, CIO & Co-Portfolio Manager
Brett Nelson, CFA

Brett is a talented mathematician whose ability was recognized and nurtured from an early age. He was one of the first people to trade volatility directly and eliminate the difficulties inherent in utilizing traditional equity derivatives for volatility trading.


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Vice President Operations
Rick Nelson

Rick joined the leadership team at Certeza in 2021 to advance the operations, ERP/CRM, development, and marketing initiatives.


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Our evolution
Early ‘90s
A gifted mathematician
With a precocious ability in mathematics, Brett was placed in a gifted program where he excelled in problem solving tournaments before competing in national math competitions
Mid ‘90s
Early entrepreneurship
A series of successful entrepreneurial moves in his early teenage years led to him seeking additional practical applications for his problem solving abilities
1996-1997
Trading beginnings
He began studying trading literature, but most books were sensational and he quickly uncovered their weaknesses, gravitating towards those featuring more rigorous mathematical approaches
Late ‘90s
Options forums
With the growth of the internet, he joined trading and quant forums, discovering that the options trading strategies he was building were far more sophisticated than those typically being discussed
2003 – 2004
Focus on volatility
He discovered that the primary source of alpha was best described by the volatility component of options, investigating this further in a private forum with a group of like-minded professors and traders
2004 – 2006
Advent of VIX derivatives
When VIX derivatives were launched shortly after, as the first entrants, the group were only able to trade their theories against each other, but as the market became more liquid it became possible to build practical volatility trading models
2007 – 2010
Volatility arbitrage
Again, Brett used sophisticated mathematical analysis to uncover new trading strategies focused on volatility arbitrage, when most of the rest of the group were fixated on harvesting volatility risk premia
Mid 2010
Macro Vega Strategy
Brett completes his core trading model and launches the Macro Vega Strategy focused on volatility statistical arbitrage.
2011
Software hire
Brett begins search for software engineer to help develop analysis platform but finds corporate computer scientists too set in their ways. Brett meets Patrick, a computer science and physics student and is immediately impressed by his ability to understand volatility structures.
2012
Visualization platform
Patrick leads the design and build of a new platform to allow Certeza to visualize interactions of derivatives, finding weak points and strong points across time and in multiple dimensions
2015
A gap in the market discovered
Investors and prospects begin asking Certeza to apply their expertise to the problem of the high cost of limiting downside in large cap hedged equity funds
2017
The perfect combination
Brett’s previous options research in conjunction Patrick’s computational analytics capabilities prove to be the perfect combination to develop such a strategy
2020
Analytics optimized
Certeza’s proprietary platform is completed, enabling exhaustive exploration of strategy variants across the universe of conditions. Certeza Strategy parameters are optimized.
2021
Certeza strategy launched
The first fund featuring the Certeza Strategy opens to external investors and begins trading in the markets
2022
Certeza Wealth Advisors launched
Certeza's unique team with decades of experience starts wealth management business
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