Barclay CTA Index Gains 1.74% in February; CTAs Profit from Natural Gas, Gold, and British Pound

FAIRFIELD, Iowa, March 21, 2016 — Managed futures traders gained 1.74% in February according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index is now up 2.89% after two months in 2016.

“A 25 percent decline in natural gas, an 11 percent rally in gold, and a continuing ‘Brexit’ decline in the British pound versus the US Dollar contributed to a profitable month for CTAs,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.

All eight of Barclay’s CTA indices had positive returns in February. The Diversified Traders Index gained 2.07%, Systematic Traders were up 1.91%, Financial/Metals Traders gained 1.81%, Currency Traders added 0.71%, and Discretionary Traders were up 0.65%.

“Seventy-six percent of the CTAs on the BarclayHedge database had gains for the month,” says Waksman.

At the end of February, the Diversified Traders Index is up 4.25% for the year. Systematic Traders have gained 3.91%, Financial/Metals Traders are up 3.50%, and Currency Traders have gained 1.98%.

The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which measures performance of the largest CTAs, gained 2.28% in February.

Click here to view 35 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 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 6,300 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.