SECOND TEAM Marko Kolanovic & team  J.P. Morgan

Holding second place for a third year running is the 18-strong J.P. Morgan crew captained by Marko Kolanovic. “Not only do they do come to you with their research ideas, they’ll also work with you and accommodate your ideas as well — so it’s a collaborative process,” says one buy-side backer. In mid-August, amid intense market volatility, the team recommended several hedging ideas, including a Chicago Board Options Exchange market volatility index risk reversal, a strategy that entailed buying VIX November 30 call options matched with a sell on VIX November 24 put options as a costless way to hedge against market volatility (costless because the price of the purchased call option equaled the premium collected by selling the put option). At the time of the recommendation, as the VIX closed at $32.85, the strategists noted that “large spikes in VIX are typically followed by persistent elevated volatility.” By early September the VIX remained at roughly the same level as the time of the recommendation, but the price of the call options had risen 8.9 percent, to $3.45.