We’ve been talking about trend following, commodity trading advisors (aka CTAs), and managed futures for more than a decade, leading to comments like this over on Twitter.
I have to say for anyone wanting to learn more about trend-following @rcmAlts is worth a follow. So many great resources from whitepapers to infographics to a podcast. Definitely worth checking out.
— Nomadic Samuel (@NomadicSamuel) May 10, 2022
But despite Nomadic Samuel’s kind words, it occurred to us the 1000s of blog posts, podcasts, you tube videos, and whitepapers covering all angles of managed futures and its trend following, commodity trading core can be a bit of a bear to navigate. Where do you start? What blog do you read first? Which podcast to you listen to next? What whitepaper ties it all together?
Good questions! And to answer, here’s our list of the most pertinent and topical pieces to aid those looking to learn more about accessing this unique asset class:
- First, start with our Why Managed Futures page for a deep dive on how they handle performance when stocks are down: https://www.rcmalternatives.com/services/futures-traders-hedgers-commercials/managed-futures/
- Next, we break down the building blocks of trend following and highlight top ranked fund managers in the space in our recently launched Trend Following Guide: https://info.rcmalternatives.com/trend-following-guide
- If reading isn’t your thing, we have a dedicated Trend/Systematic playlist, highlighting guests on the Derivative Podcast who talk mostly systematic and trend following strategies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSe0_7MN3_Q&list=PLyF-T-CstdFL6i–HRkx64IkWmnWL9kn3
- What’s the performance like… well you’ll definitely want to take a closer look at the average historical returns for CTAs. Here’s 21 years of data from 2000 to Dec 2021 on the main indices we use internally here at RCM: https://www.rcmalternatives.com/2022/02/a-closer-look-at-the-average-historical-return-for-ctas/
- How do they compare to other diversifiers and traditional investments in time of market stress? We looked at how 14 different asset classes performed during 5 different crisis periods over the past 20 years here: https://www.rcmalternatives.com/2015/07/infographic-7-traditional-vs-7-alternative-assets-in-5-bear-markets/
- How do they do that? Because they are non-correlated. Why are they non-correlated? Discover how a picture from space proves that commodities are non-correlated to the stock market here: https://www.rcmalternatives.com/2013/10/the-picture-from-space-that-shows-why-commodities-are-non-correlated-to-the-stock-market/
- Did you know Red Sox owner John Henry made his money in Managed Futures. That three of the biggest firms all came out of the same Oxford dorm room. Learn more about the history of MF here: https://info.rcmalternatives.com/history-of-managed-futures-whitepaper
- What sort of markets do trend followers trade? How liquid do they have to be? Here’s a post digging into that dynamic in Lumber: https://www.rcmalternatives.com/2021/04/where-are-the-lumber-trend-followers/.
- Love you a good infographic – here’s the 100 largest Managed Futures Funds: https://www.rcmalternatives.com/2018/07/infographic-the-top-100-managed-futures-programs/
- Back to markets managed futures “meddle” in (pun intended). Here’s a look at how CTAs were probably the only strategy that would buy Silver after years of poor performance. https://www.rcmalternatives.com/2020/07/hi-ho-silver/
- And finally, a look and explanation on how non-correlation doesn’t mean negative correlation. In real life, it is more of a mix of sometimes positively correlated, sometimes negatively correlated. Here’s how that works: https://www.rcmalternatives.com/2018/10/wheres-the-non-correlation/
And, if you like these resources, you’re going to enjoy our Rankings White Paper that is dropping soon. Be sure to follow our page and subscribe to our blog to get instant access to our new items being released here and our podcast here
