FAIRFIELD, Iowa, April 17, 2017 — The flash estimate for the Barclay CTA Index, compiled by BarclayHedge, indicates a 0.34% loss in March. Year to date, the Index is down 1.71%.
“Concerns of a US/China trade war and a data hacking scandal at Facebook helped fuel a second month of declines in global equities and a flight to quality that drove fixed income yields lower,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
The Financials and Metals Traders Index was down 0.71% in March, Diversified Traders lost 0.55%, and Systematic Traders gave up 0.50%.
“Although aluminum and other base metals gave up ground on the month, the recovery in energy markets helped to offset some of those losses,” says Waksman.
On the positive side, Agricultural Traders were up 1.01%, and Discretionary Traders gained 0.28%.
At the end of the first quarter, Agricultural Traders have gained 2.12% in 2018, the Discretionary Traders Index has gained 1.50%, and Currency Traders are up 0.71%.
Systematic Traders and Diversified Traders have lost 1.82% year to date, and Financials/Metals Traders have a 1.08% negative return.
The BTOP50 Index, which is composed of the largest CTAs open to new investment, gained 0.18% in March, but is currently down 2.03% for the year.
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Sol Waksman is the founder and president of BarclayHedge. Waksman is an industry expert and experienced media source, providing perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends.
BarclayHedge is the global leader in providing independent, research-based information services to the alternative investment industry. Founded in 1985, Barclay currently maintains data on more than 6,600 hedge funds, fund of funds, and CTAs. No one has been in the business of collecting alternative investment data longer than BarclayHedge.
Institutional investors, brokerage firms, and private banks worldwide utilize BarclayHedge indices as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.