FAIRFIELD, Iowa, October 9, 2008 –Managed futures gained 0.68% in September, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
“As the financial crisis continued to wreak havoc across global equity markets, trend-following CTAs were able to profit from short positions in stock index futures,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
In September, the Barclay Systematic Traders Index gained 1.94%, Diversified Traders were up 1.56%, and the Financial/Metals Index rose 1.07%.
“Most commodity prices have been in decline since mid-August,” says Waksman. “CTAs, on balance, are currently short these markets, and the price declines were another source of profits for the month.”
“Global fixed income was a difficult area for many traders in September. The US rescue plan resulted in large counter-trend moves in the interest rate markets.”
The Barclay CTA Index is up 7.86 percent through September, in stark contrast to a 19.29 percent decline in the S&P 500.
All eight of the managed futures indices monitored by BarclayHedge have positive returns in 2008. The Diversified Traders Index is up 14.15% after three quarters, Agricultural Traders have gained 10.73%, Systematic Traders are up 9.21%, and Discretionary Traders have gained 9.05%.
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest traders, rose 0.28% in September. The BTOP50 is now up 6.45% for the year.
Click here to view 28 years of Barclay CTA Index data.
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 6,800 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and managed futures programs. Barclay has created and regularly updates 18 proprietary hedge fund indices and eight managed futures indices.
Institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks worldwide utilize BarclayHedge data as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.