We had the opportunity to catch up with longtime friends of Attain this year as well as some new faces at the 2014 MFA Network Conference. We can’t possibly relay all that was seen and heard, but here’s a short list of managers we caught up with, and what they are up to recently:
Category: Macro Commentary
20
Jan
2014
A Different Kind of History Lesson (the VIX)
It’s a great day to remember one of our nation’s heroes, but for many in the alternative investment space – this three day “market” weekend (stock and bond markets are closed today) brings back memories of a nasty little volatility spike back in 2008. The financial crisis was upon us, and the first big warning shot across the bow was actually on MLK weekend (Jan 20th, 2008).
16
Jan
2014
Is The World Ready To Trade Futures On Their Mobile Phones?
Ready or not – mobile futures trading (and stock, and options, and baseball cards) has been going on for years now, with a new futures trading app called iBroker. It’s ready for the big time in the US. As of today – the iBroker app is now connected to the popular desktop platform CQG. Meaning… any CQG user at any participating FCM can now access their balances, positions, orders, and place trades via their existing CQG login. Cool!
15
Jan
2014
It’s Final: 2013 Asset Class Scoreboard
Not that anyone didn’t already know – but US Stocks did really, really well last year, leading the race for top asset class basically wire to wire on the way to +30% returns for the S&P 500 to lead our 2013 Asset Class Scoreboard… read ‘em and weep below:
09
Jan
2014
Chart of the Week: Stop being Average
We couldn’t help but notice something significant missing from Bob Doll’s chart which is making the rounds. it looks at the 20 Year annualized returns by asset classes dating from 1992-2011 as well as what the “average investor” has made. Ignore for a second that this data is 2 years stale… it has a bigger problem in our view – managed futures wasn’t included.
08
Jan
2014
Managed Futures Linkfest
We’ve gathered up all that’s been written in Managed Futures this past week, and put in one place.
07
Jan
2014
How Efficient was your 2013 Commodity Exposure?
Every month, we see if buying and holding a couple of commodity markets over the course of a year are doing better than investing in the ETF’s that supposedly track them. For many investors, however; the comparison of how to buy commodity exposure is becoming a moot after article upon article on the end of the super cycle. Which leads us to the widely known secret that many are still unaware of… there’s another way to invest in the commodity market. It’s a “Long/Short Strategy.”
02
Jan
2014
In Case You Missed it (you did), 2013 Edition
We shared some of the most read posts of 2013 earlier this week, and today give you the 10 posts which we thought were pretty darn good, but which you just didn’t seem to have time to read (according to the stats). Maybe you’re new to the blog, maybe you were at your kid’s school play, maybe you just plain didn’t like what we had to say… Whatever the reason, here’s 10 posts that weren’t widely read (but in our humble opinion – should have been…)
31
Dec
2013
Futures Market Winners/Losers of 2013
With a scant few hours until the ball drops in Times Square – the quote machines have gone silent, meaning we can wrap a nice bow on 2013 market performance and see where the chips fell. All those who had the 3x Long Nikkei, 3x Short Corn trade on in 2013 raise your hands, you’re on your way to induction in the trading hall of fame (or running the next hot ETF). Per our preferred quote site, Finviz.com, we find the following 2013 performance stats for futures markets.
30
Dec
2013
The 10 most read Managed Futures posts of 2013
Another year and another reflection back on the year that was. Before we get too excited about 2014, we wanted to review what you found the most interesting managed futures stories of 2013.
