Managed futures gained 1.03 per cent in February, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
The index is up 0.39 per cent in 2014.
“A late-month rally in commodity prices and the continued uptrend in US Treasuries contributed to a profitable month for most CTAs,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
Five of Barclay’s eight CTA indices had gains in February. The Barclay Diversified Traders Index was up 1.73 per cent, Systematic Traders gained 1.25 per cent, Financial & Metals Traders were up 0.58 per cent, and the Discretionary Traders Index rose 0.24 per cent.
Currency Traders lost 1.17 per cent in February, and the Agricultural Traders Index was down 0.50 per cent.
“Trading the currency markets proved difficult in February, as unanticipated weakening of China’s renminbi and strength of the euro, yen and Australian dollar against the US dollar contributed to losses,” says Waksman.
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which measures performance of the largest CTAs, lost 0.24 per cent in February. The BTOP50 is now down 2.19 per cent year to date.
