2019 was overall a good year for the CTA industry. Most CTA indices reported positive performance, and many strategies that had been out of favor for the past few years are making a comeback. Trend following and global macro strategies are again prevalent within managed futures and many are predicting a strong bull run for managed futures for the next five to seven years. Here are ten of the top performing CTAs in 2019 that are part of aiSource’s approved manager pool as of the end of the year:
Past performance is not indicative of future results. All RORs are through December 2019 unless otherwise noted
**WDD: worst drawdown since the inception of the track record
***Sharpe: Sharpe Ratio since the inception of the track record
None of the above managers are part of the trend following renaissance, but a few can be classified as macro traders: LINNIS, Breakout Funds, and Coloma Capital.
There were some new entrants to our approved CTAs in 2019, which are included in the top 10 list: LINNIS, Breakout Funds, Buckingham Global Advisors, and Sigma Advanced Capital Managment. LINNIS, LLC is a macro trader focused on trading rates on a short-term basis. Breakout Funds offers a proprietary trading firm type approach within a CTA structure, while Buckingham is an S&P option strategy focused on weekly re-balancing. Another new entrant that investors should keep an eye on is Sigma Advanced Capital Mgmt, a commodity focused spread trader.