The annual Pinnacle awards show put on by the CME and BarclayHedge (now Backstop solutions) does as good a job as any in promoting the industry and awarding those who have stood out in the recent past for their good performance. Which is why we have been proud to sponsor the event for many years. […]
Category: Managed Futures
Asset Class Scoreboard: June 2019
It’s like someone put a mirror between asset classes in May and June – with most asset classes performing nearly the exact opposite side of their percentage from the month before. Low volatility continues to persist (as we had suggested at the beginning of the year) bringing in big positives across the board after the […]
Up is down, forwards is backwards, Alpha is Beta
The good folks over at Transtrend (the 12th largest managed futures program in our top 100 managers infographic) are out with a new research piece via the CME that throws the whole Alpha concept out the window. They agree with the classical definition of Alpha as the amount of return not explained by the chosen […]
Why use automated execution algorithms? Here’s why.
We’ve been talking a lot about quants and algos recently – like this whitepaper, this blog, and this blog – which only strengthens the thought that, though necessary, quants and algos can be confusing. Even for us, who happen to share coffee and donuts with a whole in-house team of quants dedicated to working on […]
The new AI –> AT, Artificial Trading
One of the best follows on non-financial Twitter is Salesforce.com’s Chief Digital Evangelist: Vala Ashsfar. He comes up with inspiring lists highlighting what it means to be a good mentor, what money can’t buy (happy home, manners, etc.), and companies founded by immigrants (Apple, Google, Amazon to name a few). Not to mention his mesmerizing […]
Remember Bitcoin?
We’ll forgive you if you’ve deleted those files from your brain, but Bitcoin is slowly creeping back into the collective investing consciousness of late. Why? Well, more than doubling from $3,500 to $7,000 in starts to put you back in the conversation. 2019 Returns… Bitcoin $BTC: +111% REITs $VNQ: +20% Nasdaq 100 $QQQ: +18% Oil […]
What’s wrong with AQR (part III)
We’ve covered AQR’s eponymous managed futures product before, asking in April of 2017: What’s Wrong with AQR and again in March of 2019: What’s Wrong with AQR (Part II), because when you’re the elephant in the room, well – people want to know what if you’re playing nicely or shattering the dinnerware. And, well, when […]
Asset Class Scoreboard: May
And there we have it folks, the reversal we’ve all been waiting for. After 4 straight months of positive returns, every class aside from Bonds and Cash took some big hits. Managed futures came in in the middle of the pack seeing a -2.33% and Commodities are down almost 9% (no surprise there since we’ve […]
This is what Non-CORNellation looks like
It’s been raining a lot here in the Midwest this spring. Like, only 5 little league games have actually been played instead of 15 scheduled, a lot. For most of us, that means some severe weather, tornado threats, and flooding. But for those who plant the world’s Corn and Soybean crops in the Midwest, that […]
Meb Faber’s Killer Podcast List
We list Meb Faber and his blog at www.mebfaber.com amongst our ‘required reading’ list of books and blogs, and had the opportunity to sit with him and a few members of his unofficial fan club in Chicago last week during the Morningstar Investment Conference. The unofficial Chicago @MebFaber fan club – vol, asset allocation, dividends […]