In a market which could be described as ‘elevator-like,’ the BarclayHedge-compiled “Barclay CTA Index” showed overall growth of 6.26% for the year ending in December 2010. Managed futures were up 2.85% according to the same index.
“As investor psychology fluctuated between risk-on and risk-off during 2010, the major market sectors – equities, bonds, currencies, and commodities – alternated rallies with price declines,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
The Barclay’s CTA indices showed gains by the end of the year, including the Barclay Diversified Traders Index, which increased by 4.19%; the Systematic Traders Index went up by 3.17%; and the Discretionary Traders Index showed improvement of 1.83%.
“Renewed optimism for growth in 2011 helped to propel prices upward for equities and commodities while simultaneously depressing bond prices,” said Waksman.
None of the managed futures strategies lost ground in 2010, despite the difficulties in the global economy.
“In spite of several sharp loss-generating price reversals, the major price moves were to the upside and provided sufficient gains to more than offset most losses,” according to Waksman. "At year-end, more than 81 percent of the CTAs tracked by BarclayHedge had generated profits for their investors.”
British Pound Converter