We were recently asked: how can CTAs that are long bonds hope to continue making money on the trade with interest rates almost at zero? Since rates can’t go below zero, how can a trade which is looking for rates to keep going lower (towards zero) work out? This does seem intuitive to think a trade without much room to run is no good, but it’s not quite the case…
Category: Managed Futures
08
Jun
2012
06
Jun
2012
Managed Futures Mutual Funds May Update
We’ve been following the new entrants into the managed futures mutual fund space this year, and our opinion of them hasn’t gotten any better. With another month of performance data on the books, we remain convinced that these mutual funds are a poor substitute for true managed futures exposure.
04
Jun
2012
Attain Capital Presents Free Managed Futures Webinar
It doesn’t matter where we go or who we talk to- everyone wants more information on managed futures. As an asset class, managed futures is rarely accurately described or adequately explained, which is part of the reason we allocate the resources we do to investor education.
Now, though, we’re taking it to the next level. Attain is pleased to announce that we will be hosting a webinar on June 19th at 1 PM CST entitled, “Managed Futures: An In-depth Look at an Overlooked Asset Class.” The webinar will feature commentary from Attain’s team, as well as insight from the CME, Sunrise Capital, RIAs helping clients make managed futures allocations, and attorneys specializing in the space, providing participants with actionable information on how to access the asset class. Most importantly, the webinar will include a Q&A session at the end, giving you the opportunity to ask whatever questions you may have of those leading the space.
The best part? It’s FREE.
01
Jun
2012
Managed Futures end May up 2.93%
At last, our long wait for a trading environment kinder to managed futures has been rewarded. While the big May sell-off was probably not what many investors were looking for, the strong trends in multiple markets were exactly what managed futures has been needing.
31
May
2012
Nobody ever went broke taking a profit?
All anyone can talk about today is the record low interest rates we’re seeing in the US and Germany. The corresponding run-up in bonds has produced outlier gains for some in managed futures, but what should you do if you find yourself in this situation?
29
May
2012
Hedge Funds “Piling into Long Bonds”
In light of a report that hedge funds are piling into long bonds, we compared the net long/short positions of hedge funds to the performance of US bonds to see how well they’ve predicted the market in the past.
28
May
2012
Should Dimon Take a Cue from CTAs?
It may be time for big banks to learn a lesson from CTA space – know your limitations, especially when “Too Big To Fail” means “Too Big To Succeed.”
25
May
2012
It may be a slow news day, but…
Criticizing poor risk-management at a big bank is one thing, but we think a Reuters writer went a step too far in implying that a QIM manager’s blackjack-playing is an indication of careless systemic risk in finance.
22
May
2012
Newsletter: Follow That Trend
This week’s newsletter is out, and following last week’s call to consider managed futures in light of global economic tensions is nicely complimented by a more in depth look at the asset class’ most prominent strategy: trend following.
You see, even though managed futures growth over the past two decades has seen the dawn of other strategy types within the asset class– like options, agriculture, currency, specialty (fixed income, stock index, metals, etc), spread, discretionary, and multi-strategy approaches– trend following is still the bread and butter of the world of managed futures. In fact, in our recent breakdown of the CTA industry, trend following was far and away the dominant strategy. However, not all trend followers necessarily cut from the same cloth. We’ve mentioned more than a few times that there are numerous ways to skin the trend following cat (sorry cat lovers).
18
May
2012
Here’s hoping the markets “Go to Zero”
One of odd things about being in an investment which can do well when markets are down is that you find yourselves at times cheering the market to go to zero. While we don’t actually want market to go all the way to zero, a nice crisis sending markets into sustained downtrends would be a welcome sight for most in the managed futures world.
