As the economic toll of the novel coronavirus mounted, managed futures posted another positive month in April and gained 0.12% according to the Barclay CTA Index, compiled by BarclayHedge, a division of Backstop Solutions. Year-to-date, CTAs gained 1.43% through the end of April.

“Equity markets rallied in response to massive US government economic stimulus, pushing the S&P 500 Total Return Index to gain 12.82% in April,” said Sol Waksman, president of BarclayHedge. “Many CTAs held their profitable short equity positions from March into April only to see those profits turn to losses. Fortunately, downtrends in energy and agricultural markets coupled with uptrends in precious metals proved to be profitable and help put April onto the plus side of the ledger.”

Most Barclay CTA Index subsectors were in the black in April led by the Cryptocurrency Traders Index which gained 17.26%. The Discretionary Traders Index was up 1.19% for the month, the Agricultural Traders Index returned 0.97%, the MPI Barclay Elite Systematic Traders Index rose 0.23% and the Financial & Metals Traders Index was up 0.08%.

Sectors in the red in April included the Currency Traders Index, down 0.81%, the Diversified Traders Index, losing 0.13%, and the Systematic Traders Index, off 0.10%.

All sectors but two were in the black year-to-date through April, the exceptions being the MPI Barclay Elite Systematic Traders Index, which was off 3.83%, and the Financial & Metals Traders Index, which was down 0.09%.

Among the year-to-date gainers were the Cryptocurrency Traders Index, up 23.51%, the Currency Traders Index, gaining 5.12%, the Agricultural Traders Index, returning 2.99%, and the Systematic Traders Index, up 2.92%.

The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which tracks the performance of the largest CTAs that are still open for new investment, was up 0.30% in April but down 1.83% year-to-date through the end of the month.

For a complete table of Barclay CTA Index results as well as historical data, click here.

About Backstop Solutions

Backstop’s mission is to help the institutional investment industry use time to its fullest potential. We develop technology to simplify and streamline otherwise time-consuming tasks and processes, enabling our clients to quickly and easily access, share, and manage the knowledge that’s critical to their day-to-day business success. Backstop provides its industry-leading cloud-based productivity suite to investment consultants, pensions, funds of funds, family offices, endowments, foundations, private equity, hedge funds and real estate investment firms.

BarclayHedge, a division of Backstop, currently maintains data on more than 7,100 hedge funds, funds of funds and CTAs. The BarclayHedge Indices are utilized by institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks worldwide as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Sol Waksman

BarclayHedge division of Backstop Solutions Group

(641) 472-3456