Managed futures gained 0.09 per cent in July, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
Year-to-date, the Barclay CTA Index has lost 0.91 per cent.
“As market participants moved from a risk-avoidance posture to a more risk-seeking strategy in July, many traders were caught on the wrong side of a rally in global commodities,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
“Even with the negative impact of commodity losses on portfolio returns, July provided its fair share of profitable trades for CTAs.”
“The rally in wheat amid fears of shortages in Russia captured the attention of the press and drove prices 30 per cent higher. If you got the wheat trade right, then it was a very good month.”
Six of Barclay’s eight managed futures indices had a positive return in July. Currency traders gained 0.64 per cent, discretionary traders were up 0.52 per cent, agricultural traders gained 0.51 per cent, and financial and metals traders rose 0.31 per cent.
“The continuing rally in bond prices and an across-the-board weakening of the US dollar against G10 currencies during July provided profitable trend trading opportunities for portfolios invested in those sectors, ” says Waksman.
The Diversified Traders Index lost 0.17 per cent in July. The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest traders, was down 0.77 per cent in July.
