Currency Traders Help Drive CTAs Continue Strong 2024

Currency traders reported a strong month as CTAs generally benefitted from market conditions in April, with the Barclay CTA Index, managed by BarclayHedge, rising 0.88% for the month, with almost 90% of funds reporting results.

Year-to-date the Index is a very healthy +5.34%, at current pace it threatens to be the best year since 2008, when it returned over 14%. The Currency Traders Index was +1.26% in April, bringing the year-to-date performance to +3.69%, although it was outperformed by both the Diversified Traders Index, which rose 1.51% for +7.24% on the year; and the MPI Barclays Elite Systematic Traders Index – which captures the returns of the 20 largest systematic traders – which was up 1.58% in April, for +10.1% year-to-date.

Systematic traders more generally continue to outperform their discretionary peers, the Barclay Systematic Index was up 1.08% in April (+6.74% year-to-date), while the Discretionary Index was +0.51% for +2.18% year-to-date. The only red on the BarclayHedge board (aside from a -0.02% for Fin/Met. Traders, was the Cryptocurrency Index, which reflected the mixed performance in the crypto world in April, by falling 13.03%. Year-to-date it remains the best performer, however, at +21.29%.

The BTOP50 Index, which replicates the overall composition of the managed futures industry with regard to trading style and overall market exposure, also continued a strong start to the year, by rising 1.91% in April. This brings the Index to +11.1% year-to-date.

In April, the SG CTA Index was +1.85% for a year-to-date return of +11.72%, while trend followers continued their good start to the year with a +1.85% return, bringing 2024 performance to +14.1%. The SG Short-Term Traders Index also rose, but it continues to lag its peers. In April it returned +2.2% for +3.28% year-to-date.