FAIRFIELD, Iowa, November 17, 2009– Although managed futures lost 0.77% in October according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge, assets under management have increased significantly in recent months.
“Even though the Barclay CTA Index is down 0.66% in 2009, assets under management in managed futures investments increased by $15.2 billion in the third quarter of 2009, to $212.6 billion,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
“In spite of recent lackluster performance by CTAs, investors have been quietly coming back to managed futures.”
Industry assets under management peaked at $234.1 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2008.
Despite the stellar performance of managed futures during last year’s meltdown in financial markets – the Barclay CTA Index gained 14.09% in 2008 – assets flowed out as investors rushed to raise cash. Industry assets had declined to $196.3 billion by the end of the first quarter of 2009.
“Now that investor confidence is returning, it seems that some of the money that was hastily withdrawn last year is starting to come back,” says Waksman.
“Although the recent performance has been below par, investors who understand and value the long term benefits of exposure to the managed futures sector are returning.”
Seven of Barclay’s eight managed futures indices had negative returns in October. The Diversified Traders Index fell 1.61%, Systematic Traders gave back 1.27%, and Agricultural Traders were down 1.16%.
The only positive note in October was a gain of 0.19% in the Barclay Currency Traders Index.
Year-to-date, Currency Traders are up 0.87%, and Discretionary Traders have gained 0.41%. On the negative side, Diversified Traders have lost 4.34 percent, and Systematic Traders are down 3.48 percent year-to-date.
“The only consistent trend during October was continuing US Dollar weakness,” says Waksman.
“In the energy complex, gasoline was sharply up while natural gas was sharply down. In other commodities, cotton markets rose and sugar retreated.”
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest traders, lost 1.31% in October, and is down 3.16% in 2009.
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Sol Waksman is an experienced media source, providing perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends. For quotes, commentary or background, call 641-472-3456 or email swaksman@barclayhedge.com.
BarclayHedge (formerly The Barclay Group) was founded in 1985 and actively tracks more than 6,000 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 BarclayHedge data as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.