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FAIRFIELD, Iowa, April 15, 2009– Managed futures slipped 1.16% in March according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index is now down 1.59% in 2009.
“The US Federal Reserve’s willingness to employ quantitative easing helped to drive interest rates and the US Dollar lower, while propelling prices for stocks and agricultural commodities higher,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
“Trend-followers, as a group, were on the wrong side of these markets when they changed direction mid-month.”
Diversified Traders lost 1.93% in March, Systematic Traders fell 1.61%, and Financial/Metals Traders were down 0.27%.
“After gaining an impressive 26.55 percent in 2008, Diversified Traders are struggling to get their rhythm, losing 2.49 percent in the first quarter of 2009,” says Waksman.
The only winning CTA strategy in March was Barclay’s Discretionary Traders Index, which gained 0.24% in March, and is up 0.90% at the end of the first quarter in 2009.
“Discretionary Traders rely on judgment and experience to make trading decisions while Systematic Traders usually employ some form of momentum-based approach to guide trade selection,” says Waksman.
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 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.
