Currency Traders a Bright Spot as CTAs Start 2023 on a Down Note…Just

While the first month of the year was anything but easy for CTAs, currency and crypto traders both produced good returns to start the year according to BarclayHedge.

The headline Barclay CTA Index was down fractionally at 0.09% in January, with just over 93% of funds reporting results. The Currency Traders Index was +1.71% to start the year and the Cryptocurrency Traders Index reflected the reliance upon price appreciation by rising 22.11%.

Discretionary traders had a better start to the year than their systematic brethren, very much reflecting what happened in 2022, with the Discretionary Traders Index rising 0.97% and the Systematic Traders Index falling 0.07%. The MPI Barclay Elite Systematic Traders index was unable to maintain a strong 2022, falling 0.86% in the first month of 2023.

The BTOP50 Index, which seeks to replicate the overall composition of the managed futures industry with regard to trading style and overall market exposure, fell by 0.03% to start the year.

Elsewhere, the SG CTA Index was also down, by 0.82%, in January, while trend followers continued what was a struggle at the end of 2022 – a year in which the strategy provided the highest returns for two decades – returning -1.37% to start the year.