It doesn’t matter if you are an investor that is new to Managed Futures or if you are an investor that’s been investing in Managed Futures for years – you both face the same questions – the primary one being, which CTAs to include as part of your portfolio. Picking a CTA is never as simple as going online and scanning through a database, and finding someone that looks like a “good performer.” The fact is that you are making a decision to invest a large sum of money with these programs, and the decision making process is no different than making any other large purchase in your everyday life. Think about it – when buying a car, do you simply go online and look through a variety of car manufacturers, makes, and models, and click the “buy” button for the vehicle you like? The answer is probably no. Most people, generally research various cars online, and then visit each dealer, and test-drive many vehicles prior to making a decision. Usually, a final decision is generally not made until you read reviews online, or receive recommendations from friends and family, which confirm that the car you are about to purchase is indeed a reliable car to own. It is after this thorough research and due diligence period, that a decision on a purchase is made. You could relate this process to many other purchases you make – home, vacation package, boat…etc.
Now, what if you could related this same process to investing in different managed futures CTAs? How do you “test-drive” a CTA? Where can you go online to read reviews from investors about CTAs that they invest or have invested with (this is actually an idea we’re considering adding to our site, but raises many regulatory hurdles), or find someone you know that invests with CTAs you’re considering? Even the brokers that you work with, the exact people that are actually recommending CTAs to invest with, usually do not personally invest with those CTAs….this is where aiSource is completely different from our competition.
The partners here at aiSource, invest personal and company funds with the CTAs that we recommend. While this is not true for ALL the CTAs listed in our database, it is true for many of the ones that we recommend to our clients. The reason we think this is so important is because it lets you, the investor, know that we have our own money on the line, and as current investors in these CTAs, we can provide “reviews” or “recommendations” on whether a CTA is a good fit for you. Because we have such a good relationship with all of our clients, we many times know from personal experience whether a CTA would be a good fit for one of our clients or not. We have no problem telling a client that “no, this is probably not a good fit for you” or “while the performance is strong, we think this CTA is too volatile for you, and might keep you from getting sleep.” By providing these types of candid opinions, we aid the investor in making their decisions – similar to how a friend or family member can offer advice, or how reading an online review can sway a decision one way or another.
While it is not possible to remove 100% of bias in anything we say, we will never recommend a portfolio decision to any investor, until or unless it is in THEIR best interest. Our goal as a company is to keep our clients around for life, and because of this, we want them to have sustained success over a long period of time. Obviously, as with any other investment, past performance is never a clear indication of future results.
-Rishab Sharma
Disclaimer: Please use the above material strictly for educational purposes. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss. By no means is this newsletter offering any investment advice or suggesting to make any trade recommendations. Please consult an aiSource advisor prior to opening any managed futures accounts.