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FAIRFIELD, Iowa, November 8, 2006 - Managed futures funds traded by the largest CTAs jumped 1.40% in October, as measured by the Barclay BTOP50 Index.
"Large traders, as a group, out-performed most of the Barclay sectors in October," says Sol Waksman, founder and president of The Barclay Group.
"Academic research has argued that smaller, newer trading firms provide better returns than established traders. Perhaps the larger, more experienced traders haven't read those studies yet."
Overall, managed futures gained 0.66% in October, according to flash estimates for the Barclay CTA Index.
Seven out of eight Barclay CTA indexes reported gains in October. Agricultural Traders gained 1.82%, Discretionary Traders rose 1.32%, Diversified Traders were up 0.96%, and Systematic Traders gained 0.47%.
"Many traders were able to take advantage of the global rally in equities with long stock index futures positions," says Waksman. "A month-long rally in the corn and soybean markets also provided ample profit opportunities."
The Currency Traders Index edged down 0.03% in October.
"A directionless US Dollar zig-zagged back and forth against the major currencies during the month, making it very difficult for currency traders to hold on to profits."
Click here to view 27 years of Barclay CTA Index data.
Sol Waksman is an experienced media source, providing perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends. Call 641-472-3456 or email sol@barclaygrp.com for more commentary or background.
The Barclay Group, founded in 1985, actively tracks more than 5,900 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 indexes as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.
