Derwent Capital Markets was a pioneer in the use of social media sentiment analysis to trade financial derivatives. The company was founded in 2008 by co-owner Paul Hawtin. Derwent Capital Market's registered office is in London.
In February 2011 Derwent Capital Markets launched a hedge fund using Twitter for investment direction. An academic study by Johan Bollen (Indiana University), Huina Mao (Indiana University), and Xiao-Jun Zeng (University of Manchester) established the connection between emotion-related words appearing in Twitter posts and subsequent movements in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
In May 2013, Paul Hawtin, the Founder of Derwent Capital Markets launched Cayman Atlantic , an investment management firm that uses real-time social media data such as Twitter to find valuable trading opportunities.
As of December 2017, the website no longer functions and the company has been struck off.