Currency Traders Eke Out Minor Gains as CTA Recover Ground

Currency traders managed to scrape out minor gains in April amidst a recovery of sorts for CTAs, with the Barclay CTA Index, calculated by BarclayHedge, returning 1% with over 91% of funds reporting.

The Currency Traders Index rose 0.06% on the month, with almost 97% of funds reporting results, this continues what has been a good start to the year for the sector, the index is now up 3.35% year-to-date.

In contrast, the Cryptocurrency Traders Index dipped 0.17%, bringing a good run of returns to an end. With just under 64% of funds reporting results, the index is now +30.03% for the year, easily the best performer in 2023 thus far.

Elsewhere, it was a good month for systematic players, with the Discretionary Index the only other sub-index to decline, falling 0.48%. In contrast the Barclays Systematic Traders Index rose 1.24% in April, almost halving the year-to-date loss, which is now -1.3%. The Discretionary Index is +0.74% year-to-date.

The good systematic performance was reinforced by the MPI Barclays Elite Systematic Traders Index, which captures the average return of the 20 largest managers. This rose 1.77% in April, but in spite of being the best return for April, it continues to languish in the red for the year-to-date, at -2.47%.

The BTOP 50 Index, which seeks to replicate the overall composition of the managed futures industry with regard to trading style and overall market exposure, also recovered some lost ground, rising 1.51% in April. This brings the index to -2.15% year-to-date, thanks largely to a horrible March, where it dropped almost 5%.

Elsewhere, it was also a better month for the SG CTA Index, which rose 2.02% in April. This pares the year-to-date loss to -3.3% for the index. It was a similar picture for the SG Trend Index, which, naturally, tracks trend following CTAs. This rose 2.9% in April, but remains mired in negative territory at -4.64% year-to-date.