Managed futures traders lost 1.71 per cent in June according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index remains up 0.05 per cent year to date.
“Trend reversals in equities, energy, and the US Dollar resulted in losses for 72 percent of the funds that have reported a June return as of today,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
Seven of Barclay’s eight CTA indices had losses in June. The Diversified Traders Index dropped 2.48 per cent, Systematic Traders lost 2.07 per cent, Financial/Metals Traders were down 0.99 per cent, and Currency Traders gave up 0.59 per cent.
The Agricultural Traders Index, up 1.15 per cent in June, was the only managed futures sector with a gain.
“Grain markets, which had been trending lower most of the year, bottomed in mid–June as traders began revising yield forecasts downward based on flooding concerns in the US Corn Belt,” says Waksman.
After six months in 2015, the Currency Traders Index is up 2.28 per cent, Financial/Metals Traders have gained 2.26 per cent, Agricultural Traders are up 1.38 per cent, and Discretionary Traders have added 0.63 per cent.
The Diversified Traders Index is down 1.89 per cent for the year, and Systematic Traders have lost 0.90 per cent.
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which measures performance of the largest CTAs, dropped 4.38 per cent in June. This is the largest monthly loss for the BTOP50 since January of 1991 when the Index declined 4.93 per cent. The BTOP50 is down 3.16 per cent at the end of two quarters in 2015.
