The Barclay CTA index has gained 7.17 per cent in the first two months of 2008, according to Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
The Barclay CTA index has gained 7.17 per cent in the first two months of 2008, according to Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
‘The last time the index started out this strong was in 1997, when it was up 7.48 per cent by the end of February," says Waksman, who provides perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends.
Barclay’s Diversified Traders index is also off to a fast start in 2008, gaining 13.86 per cent in just two months. In 2007, the index rose a total of 11.41 per cent for the entire 12 months.
BarclayHedge, formerly known as The Barclay Group, was founded in 1985, and actively tracks more than 6,600 hedge funds, fund of hedge funds, and managed futures programs. Barclay has created and regularly updates 18 proprietary hedge fund indices and eight managed futures indices.
Institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks worldwide use Barclay’s data as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.
‘In contrast to the targeted strategies of agricultural, currency, or financial and metals traders, diversified traders are able to seek out and take advantage of profitable trends in a wide range of market sectors,’ continues Waksman. ‘So far in 2008, CTAs using a diversified strategy have been making all the right moves.’
All eight of Barclay’s CTA indices were profitable in February. The Diversified Traders index jumped 8.76 per cent, Systematic Traders gained 5.91 per cent, Discretionary Traders were up 4.52 per cent, Agricultural Traders rose 2.83 per cent, and Financial and Metals Traders gained 2.65 per cent.
‘In February, widespread concern over the possibility of a recession and inflation fears further weakened the US dollar and helped drive commodity prices higher,’ says Waksman.
‘At the same time, US interest rates and equity indices continued to trend lower.’
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest traders, rose 3.97 per cent in February.
‘Due to liquidity constraints in the commodity futures markets, the largest traders oftentimes find it necessary to allocate a larger proportion of their portfolios to the financial futures markets,’ says Waksman. ‘But even with proportionally less exposure to commodities, the biggest traders are off to their best start since 2003.’
