Managed futures held steady in August, posting a small gain of 0.11 per cent, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by Fairfield, Iowa-based index provider BarclayHedge, and the inde
Managed futures held steady in August, posting a small gain of 0.11 per cent, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by Fairfield, Iowa-based index provider BarclayHedge, and the index remains up 7.17 per cent over the first eight months of the year.
‘Inflation fears moderated in August as commodity prices corrected and the global economy showed signs of slowing,’ says BarclayHedge founder and president Sol Waksman. ‘Bond prices rose and traders holding long positions in North American and Australian markets were able to profit nicely.’
Six of Barclay’s eight managed futures indices were in positive territory in August. Discretionary and diversified traders both saw gains of 0.25 per cent and currency traders gained 0.20 per cent. So far this year Barclay’s diversified traders index is the top managed futures strategy with a gain of 12.42 per cent.
Agricultural traders had the weakest performance in August, losing 0.52 per cent. ‘Agricultural traders were caught flat-footed as prices for corn and soybeans, which had been in a sustained downtrend since the beginning of July, rallied at mid-month,’ Waksman says.
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest traders, fell by 1.52 per cent in August but remains up 6.59 per cent for the first eight months of the year.
Founded as the Barclay Group in 1985, BarclayHedge tracks more than 6,800 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds and managed futures programmes and maintains 18 proprietary hedge fund and eight managed futures indices, providing data to clients including institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks.
