FAIRFIELD, Iowa, April 17, 2013 — Managed futures gained 0.57% in March according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index is up 1.07% year to date.
“A decoupling of US growth from global markets and aggressive easing by the Bank of Japan provided the impetus for a profitable month,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
“Traders that were long US and Japanese equities and short EUR and JPY against the USD enjoyed good returns."
Seven of Barclay’s eight CTA indices had positive returns in March. The Diversified Traders Index gained 0.71%, Systematic Traders were up 0.69%, Financial & Metal Traders added 0.60%, and the Currency Traders Index gained 0.47%.
“On the commodity side, long positions in natural gas and crude oil provided profits, but prices for precious as well as base metals and agricultural commodities declined,” says Waksman. The Agricultural Traders Index was down 0.40% in March, and was the only losing managed futures strategy for the month.
After three months, all eight BarclayHedge CTA indices are in positive territory. The Currency Traders Index has gained 1.51%, Diversified Traders are up 1.42%, and Systematic Traders have gained 1.31%.
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which measures performance of the largest CTAs, gained 0.77% in March, and is currently up 2.48% for the year.
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Sol Waksman is an experienced media source, providing perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends. For more commentary or background, call 641-472-3456 or email swaksman@barclayhedge.com.
BarclayHedge was founded in 1985 and actively tracks more than 6,200 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and managed futures programs. Each month Barclay provides updated performance rankings for 38 Hedge Fund categories, 16 CTA categories, and 7 UCITS categories.
Institutional investors, brokerage firms, and private banks worldwide utilize BarclayHedge indices as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.