Managed futures funds traded by the largest CTAs jumped 2.00 percent in November, as measured by the Barclay BTOP50 Index.
“Mid-month rallies in the energy and soy bean markets gave traders some extra profit opportunities, adding momentum to a month that was already in positive territory,” says Sol Waksman, the founder and president of The Barclay Group. “A month-long decline in US interest rates drove bond prices higher in November, however, the drop in interest rates may have also added fuel to the US dollar’s decline, as the USD lost ground against the major currencies. Both of these trends were profitable for many CTAs.”
This is the second month in a row that large traders have outperformed smaller CTAs. The BTOP50 is now up 4.26 percent in 2006. Overall, managed futures gained 1.75 percent in November according to flash estimates for the Barclay CTA Index. The Index is up 3.09 percent for the year.
All eight Barclay CTA indexes reported gains in November. The Diversified Traders Index was up 1.98 percent, Systematic Traders gained 1.52 percent, Financial and Metals rose 1.15 percent, Discretionary Traders gained 0.95 percent, and the Currency Traders Index was up 1.00 percent.