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Agriculture Commodity Trading Advisor CTA Grains

Bocken Trading – March 2014 Update and Outlook

Everything but soyoil rallied in March with wheat the upside leader. Funds covered shorts and got long wheat on US production risks and added risk premium for Ukraine/Russia tensions. Corn was supported on strong export demand and extremely strong ethanol margins. The same themes continued to support beans and meal – we have oversold our supply and need to ration for the remainder of the crop year. Oil made new highs early in the month in sympathy with strength in beans and on dryness in Southeast Asian palm production areas but sold off as rains materialized.

Commodity Trading Advisor CTA Managed Futures

Choosing a Successful Commodity Trading Advisor

Many people want to get into commodity trading but look askance at the vagaries of the markets and worry that they will lose a lot of money. Some individuals with limited trading experience can jump into the fray without losing their pocketbook; others aren’t so fortunate. Even some investors without experience investing in commodities may be shy at moving into the sector. Fortunately, there is a way for those with means to invest in the commodities market and perhaps come out better than they started most of the time. But they have to know the right tracks to follow.

Economics

Federal Reserve Releases Beige Book and Chairwoman Yellen Speaks to Wall Street

The Federal Reserve gave the markets a double dose of talk and economic data Wednesday, but the market was already bullish and didn’t react much. First, the Fed released at 2 p.m. EDT the Beige Book Business Survey, which was based on data collected before April 7 and since the previous report on March 5. […]

Agriculture Commodity Trading Advisor CTA Grains

Grain Outlook from CTA: Kottke Commodities

Simultaneous, intense logistical snarls in both ocean-going shipments and North American rail transportation made for divergence between cash grain values and underlying futures contracts during the month. Part of what we do is forecasting how futures will act to realign regional imbalances, but this proved largely impossible as “uneconomic” dislocations abounded as never before: Cancellation […]

Commodity Trading Advisor CTA Grains Managed Futures

IASG March CTA Indexes

Overall the IASG CTA Index was down 90 BPS for March with 71% of managers posting their returns a/o this posting. This was a particularly difficult month with the Volatility VIX index reducing dramatically in early March only to recover and spike quickly which presented an opportunity for the stock index and options CTAs. Agriculture was also an area of focus with grains primarily staying flat and end of month spiking after USDA reports indicated larger supply than was predicted along with unstable conditions in Ukraine causing corn prices to rally end of month. Finally Livestock prices achieved all time high prices as a virus continues to take its toll in decimating hogs. There were some managers that were able to exploit these markets and others who struggled. Trend Following continues to struggle in these market conditions with the first quarter showing a -1.25% loss.

Commodity Trading Advisor CTA Managed Futures

2100 Xenon is acquired by Manning & Napier

Manning & Napier, Inc. (NYSE:MN), (“Manning & Napier” or “the Company”) today announced that it will acquire the business and operations of 2100 Xenon Group, LLC, an alternative investment manager specializing in managed futures and global macro strategies for institutional and individual clients. The acquisition will enhance Manning & Napier’s alternative capabilities and provide increased product diversification to clients. The transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals and is expected to close within the second quarter. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Commodity Trading Advisor CTA

Protec Energy Partners LLC – Q2 RBOB Gasoline Market Outlook

Market Overview: Gasoline Current demand has climbed to a robust 9 million bpd which is 3.2% higher than the three year average At 9.84 million barrels per day, soaring U.S. gasoline production is a whopping 10.6% higher than the three year average As of this report, the NYMEX spot gasoline price is at $2.99/gal which is 7.6% below […]

Commodity Trading Advisor CTA

Advantages of Separately Managed Accounts

Prudent investors like to know where their money is and how it is being used. They don’t want surprise announcements that the investment vehicle holding their money has lost 75% because of poor choices or because of a lack of management integrity.

Commodity Trading Advisor Managed Futures Education Resources

Observations On the Death of Trend Following

This paper addresses issues contributing to the underperformance of trend following programs during the investment environment of the past five years, a set of conditions that may continue for some time. As the “trend following” debate rages on, our ultimate concern pertaining to the current conundrum is whether trend following strategies are no longer profitable. While I review comments from a variety of leaders in the field, both data and comments focus more heavily on the CTA (Commodity Trading Advisor) space than on that of other fund managers. Nevertheless, details are applicable to a variety of strategies. It is my hope that a broader perspective will encourage investors to ask more pragmatic questions, ultimately improving their manager selection process.

Holiday
Alternative Investment Strategy

Scrooge: The Real Story

Most people know Ebenezer Scrooge as the cold-hearted, tight-fisted, “Bah, humbug!” guy from the Charles Dickens novel, A Christmas Carol. But was it really the “happiness of Christmas” that grated on Scrooge’s nerves, or was it something else that caused his foul disposition? Indeed, it wasn’t a lack of status that made Scrooge grumpy. He […]

Managed Futures Education Resources

Lintner Revisited: The Benefits of Managed Futures 25 Years Later

Dr. John Lintner, a Harvard Professor, presented the seminal paper entitled “The Potential Role of Managed Commodity – Financial Futures Accounts (and/or Funds) in Portfolios of Stocks and Bonds” at the annual conference of the Financial Analysts Federation in Toronto in May 1983. The findings of his work, namely that portfolios of equities and fixed income exhibit substantially less variance at every possible level of expected return when combined with managed futures, remain as true as ever more than 25 years later. In this brief paper, we attempt to update Professor Lintner’s work by demonstrating that the beneficial correlative properties of managed futures presented in his research persist today. We also reintroduce managed futures as a diverse collection of liquid, transparent hedge fund strategies that tend to perform well in environments that are often difficult for traditional and other alternative investments.

Managed Futures Managed Futures Education Resources

Choosing a CTA …

… or maybe more than one. If you’ve decided to include Managed Futures in your investment portfolio, the next step is choosing the right mix of Commodity Trading Advisors to help achieve your investment objectives. Just as managed futures help diversify an investment portfolio, different CTA programs can provide another layer of diversity within the […]

Managed Futures Education Resources

An Overview of Alternative Investments: REITs, Hedge Funds, Managed Futures, Private Equity, and Venture Capital

An alternative investment is a product other than traditional investments, such as stocks, bonds, or cash. Most alternative investment assets are held by institutional investors or accredited, high-net-worth individuals because of their complex nature, limited regulations, and relative lack of liquidity. Some of the more common alternative investment strategies are real estate investment trusts, hedge […]

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