FAIRFIELD, Iowa, March 17, 2010– Managed futures gained 0.19% in February according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
“Although commodity indexes gained nearly 3.5 percent in February, the profits for CTAs came largely from the financial markets,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
“U.S. and Asian equity markets overcame Greek jitters early in February and rallied nicely through month-end.”
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest managed futures funds, outperformed all other sectors, gaining 0.72% in February.
“The largest traders, based on liquidity considerations, tend to have higher percentage exposures to financial markets than the smaller traders,” says Waksman. “That worked in their favor as financial markets gained strength in February."
Six of Barclay’s eight managed futures indices had gains in February. The Barclay Financial & Metals Traders Index was up 0.59%, Currency Traders gained 0.46%, and Discretionary Traders rose 0.11%.
Although the Barclay Agricultural Traders Index lost 1.70% in February, the index is still up 1.68% for the year after a strong 3.44% gain in January.
Click here to view 30 years of Barclay CTA Index data.
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 5,800 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and managed futures programs. Barclay has created and regularly updates 18 proprietary hedge fund indexes and eight managed futures indexes.
Institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks worldwide utilize Barclay’s data as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.