Simons and his team had yet to solve the market, however. Medallion gained 21 percent in 1997, a bit lower from the 32 percent results a year earlier, the over 38 percent gain in 1995, and the 71 percent jump in 1994. Its trading system still ran into serious issues. One day, a data-entry error caused the fund to purchase five times as many wheat-futures contracts as it intended, pushing prices higher. Picking up the next day’s Wall Street Journal, sheepish staffers read that analysts were attributing the price surge to fears of a poor wheat harvest, rather than Renaissance’s miscue.
