TY - JOUR T1 - Alpha Capture Systems: Past, Present, and Future Directions JF - The Journal of Alternative Investments DO - 10.3905/jai.2023.1.181 SP - jai.2023.1.181 AU - François-Serge Lhabitant AU - Denis Mirlesse Y1 - 2023/01/23 UR - https://pm-research.com/content/early/2023/01/23/jai.2023.1.181.abstract N2 - Alpha Capture Systems (ACS) describe a set of commercial and private computer programs that track investment recommendations and their subsequent performance to create an alpha-generating portfolio. This article presents an overview of the evolution of ACS from the first sell-side to the more recent buy-side systems, from capturing brokers’ ideas to analyzing the underlying positions of mutual funds and even hedge funds. We discuss the key features of the most recent ACS and flag their expected weaknesses. We suggest various improvements we expect to see in future ACS that, based on our experience, should enhance their performance significantly. ER -