Managed futures gained 1.63 per cent in August, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
Year to date, the index is up 2.18 per cent.
“The trend was a friend in August,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. “The S&P 500 rallied to new all-time highs, US Treasury yields declined to new lows on the year, and the US dollar continued to strengthen.”
Seven of Barclay’s eight CTA indices had gains in August. The Systematic Traders Index was up 2.06 per cent, Diversified Traders gained 2.01 per cent, Financial & Metals Traders were up 1.16 per cent, and Agricultural Traders added 0.83 per cent.
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which measures performance of the largest CTAs, gained 2.65 per cent in August.
Year to date, the Barclay Agricultural Traders Index leads all managed futures strategies with a 9.03 per cent return. Systematic Traders have gained 2.94 per cent, Diversified Traders are up 2.51 per cent, and Discretionary Traders have gained 1.98 per cent.
Currency Traders have lost 1.24 per cent year to date, and is the only managed futures index tracked by BarclayHedge with a negative return in 2014.
