Kai to Launch KaiConvex Funds on December 1st

Former QVR portfolio managers Noel Smith and Scott Maidel will run the funds, as the firm founded by ex-options market maker Cem Karsan bets market risk will rise over the next two years

CHICAGO, Nov. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kai Asset Management, an affiliate of Cem Karsan's fast-growing wealth advisory and turnkey asset management platform Kai Wealth, has hired former QVR Advisors portfolio managers Noel Smith and Scott Maidel to run its institutional business and will launch the first two funds under the KaiConvex brand on Dec. 1. The expansion positions Kai to help investors navigate what Karsan expects to be a period of potentially severe market risk over the coming years.

Smith, chief investment officer of Convex Asset Management, previously managed money for volatility-focused investment firm QVR as a senior portfolio manager, while Maidel served as a QVR partner running the hedge-fund business and helping manage its biggest strategy.

Two KaiConvex strategies will launch on Dec. 1. Hedged Equity targets strong risk-adjusted returns by balancing upside capture with downside mitigation. Option prices show how the market expects returns to be distributed, and the strategy looks to take advantage of that. Kai believes the boom in option selling and income funds has created a structural pricing opportunity for hedged beta and convexity. The second product, Carry Neutral Tail Hedging, is designed to protect against a range of stock-market declines while limiting the cost of protection. It will seek maximum cash-efficient convexity.

Most investors buy downside protection from banks, packaged as structured notes. Kai builds it from exchange-traded options, for a fraction of the cost. With Smith and Maidel aboard, Kai is now offering venture funds and institutions the hedging it has done for family offices: custom options overlays that hedge large holdings, and loans against those holdings structured with box spreads. Kai Wealth designs whole portfolios around risk-adjusted return for wealthy families, family offices and institutions, and runs a turnkey platform that other advisory firms use. When it can't buy the right tool, Kai Asset Management builds it. Founded in January 2025, Kai now manages approximately $500 million. 

"Most investors don't think about risk until they've been hit over the head with it, and we are heading into a very volatile period post-midterms," said Karsan, Kai's founder and co-chief investment officer. "The tools to properly manage risk have existed for years. The infrastructure to put them in a liquid and accessible portfolio, however, until recently has not. That is what Kai provides for clients, and it is disruptive."

Smith has been on the inside of both eras of modern trading: the pits and the machines. A founding member of Third Millennium Trading in 1996, he led it to become one of the largest U.S. equity options market makers. He was also the seed investor behind GETCO, the trading firm that at its peak handled about a fifth of U.S. stock trading. He has traded volatility for more than 30 years. At Kai Asset Management, he is co-chief investment officer and head of portfolio management.

"Most tail hedges only pay off in a crash, and investors spend years paying for protection while they wait for one," Smith said. "Markets don't fall just one way. We built client portfolios to protect against most of the ways they do."

Maidel joins from QVR, where he was a partner and head of the hedge-fund business, responsible for business development, and ran custom tail-hedging overlays and the Hedged Equity strategy. During his tenure, QVR grew from a $100 million single-client SMA to over $1.5 billion in AUM. At Kai, he is head of institutional solutions and portfolio manager for KaiConvex HF Solutions.

"People love to talk about hedging their stock portfolios, but not a lot of them end up doing it," Maidel said. "With the market at all-time highs, more of them are ready to act."

Kai expects the next two years to bring more risk, not less, a case Karsan has been making publicly. The old mix of stocks and bonds is no longer working, he argues, and geopolitics is adding to the danger. Both are forcing investors to think differently. Kai has already acted on that view. As of Nov. 1, the company has moved client portfolios into a heavily hedged posture.

Karsan made his name at Precision Capital, the options market maker he founded and sold in 2010. At its peak the company handled about 13% of daily S&P 500 options volume. He hosts the podcast "U Got Options" from the Cboe trading floor in Chicago and is a frequent contributor on CNBC covering Federal Reserve meetings and market volatility.

About Kai Wealth

Kai Wealth is a Chicago-based registered investment advisor that helps high-net-worth families, family offices and institutions optimize their portfolios for risk-adjusted returns. It also runs a turnkey asset management platform (TAMP) for other advisory firms. Founded by Cem Karsan, Kai Wealth became a registered investment advisor on Jan. 1, 2025, and manages approximately $500 million.

About Kai Asset Management

Kai Asset Management develops quantitatively driven, actively risk-managed strategies across hedge funds, overlays, cash management and alternatives for institutional investors under the KaiConvex HF Solutions brand. Kai Asset Management is a trade name of Kai Volatility Advisors LLC, which is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a commodity trading advisor and is a member of the National Futures Association.

Media contact

info@kai-am.com

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Kai Asset Management

Kai Asset Management