Baran Kayhan
🇨🇦Canada· Toronto
Izmir-born, CFA, Toronto-based hedge fund manager — second on the MMVR $1M+ Enhanced Growth podium in 2026 Q1 at +52.3%.
Izmir-born, Toronto-based, CFA charterholder, hedge fund manager — Baran Kayhan is the rare USIC competitor where the public bio reads like an institutional pitch deck before you get to the audit numbers. He runs Euclid Technologies as a Toronto-based hedge fund, and his 2025 USIC entry sat in the $20K-$1M Enhanced Growth division, where he posted +91.1% on the full year (and reached +135.1% intra-year). For 2026 he promoted up into the MMVR $1M+ Enhanced Growth tier and is sitting 2nd at +52.3% Q1, behind the Icewater Capital entity (+76.8%) and ahead of Vikash Raniga (+36.4%).
Enhanced Growth allows futures and long options on top of the Stock Division ruleset — the same setup Tito Adhikary used for his +2,115.1% 2025 record. Kayhan's two-year tier-jump (from a +91% smaller-account audit to a +52.3% Q1 on the $1M+ tier) is a textbook case of the USIC career-ladder positioning: prove the methodology at the smaller account size, then scale into the institutional tier.
The CFA + named-firm signal is unusual on the EG leaderboard, which skews toward independent discretionary operators. He has no surfaced X / LinkedIn / personal site under his name, which means outreach routes through USIC's organizer channel or directly through Euclid Technologies.
Interview
CFA is an institutional credential. Enhanced Growth USIC is competitive trading with futures and options. Is that a contradiction or a synergy?
I wanted to have institutional credentials while starting our fund, Euclid Technologies. I have never worked in banking or another investing firm, I have always risked my own and my business's money. CFA credentials take longer to acquire than an MBA, roughly three years provided you pass all levels and have relevant capital allocation experience, and is finance focused, with many business-relevant units such as accounting, corporate finance, and equity valuations. I had already taken a course with Aswath Damodaran from NYU Stern, the "dean of valuation", called Advanced Valuation, to learn how to value businesses. The CFA was a natural next step. I don't particularly love trading. I love businesses.
You manage a hedge fund with real LPs. How do they react to your participation in USIC? And what is Euclid Technologies' strategy, do you use the same instruments in the fund as in USIC?
Our fund has two different strategies: Quality Growth and Opportunities. Quality Growth is where we apply strict valuation metrics, you could call it Buffett-style investing in the technology sector. We have been valuing companies such as Nvidia since 2017, some of the research is public. I have my partner Nico to thank, who taught data science and financial modeling at the University of Western Ontario and the National University of Singapore, for foreseeing the growth of machine learning and AI and giving us the confidence to go all in. He bought the first Nvidia supercomputer at the same time as OpenAI, to help make investing decisions. There are many companies that do not fit the Quality Growth criteria but have amazing prospects. This is Opportunities, and it is the same strategy as the USIC portfolio. It is aggressive and on a different risk scale, using options and leverage. Our investors responded positively to USIC results, but we make sure they are crystal clear about the differences and only accept those who understand the potential volatility.
You only compete in USIC, not IQC, not Robbins. Is that a deliberate position?
I don't know about IQC or Robbins. I once came across USIC on social media and thought it would be a nice proving ground.
