Currency Traders Struggle Amidst CTA Rebound
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: September 25, 2025
While CTAs generally clawed more early year losses back in August, currency traders lost momentum as volatility in FX markets eased.
The Barclay CTA Index, managed by BarclayHedge, was up 0.74% in August with just over 91% of funds reporting results – the third consecutive month it has been positive, although it is still struggling year-to-date at -2.08%, thanks largely to a horrendous April. Only two sub-indices were in negative territory, Agri Traders at -1.78% and Currency Traders at -1.02%. The latter had been recovered from losses earlier in the year, but has now slipped back to -1.74% year-to-date.
Unsurprisingly, given the rise in prices, Crypto Traders were best performer at +2.08%, although at +5.5% it remains well underneath core crypto price performance in 2025.
For the third month in a row, systematic traders outperformed discretionary, however they remain well behind year-to-date. The Barclay Systematic Traders Index rose 0.93% in August, while the Discretionary Traders Index was up 0.21%. Year-to-date, however, the latter continues to outperform, at the end of August it was +3.21%, while the former was still mired in the red at -3.98%.
The Barclay MPI Elite Systematic Traders Index, which is constructed to capture the returns of the 20 largest systematic traders, was also up in August, by 1.06%, but also remains deeply in the red at -6.57% year-to-date.
The BTOP50 Index, which seeks to replicate the overall composition of the managed futures industry with regard to trading style and overall market exposure, rose an estimated 1.42% in August, bringing it to -2.72% year-to-date.
Discretionary traders in the SG Prime Services indices did slightly better than systematic in the latest data. The SG Macro Trading Index (MTI) was +1.65% in August, for +5.03% year-to-date, while the firm’s Discretionary MTI was +1.79% and the Quantitative MTI +1.41%. This serves to widen the performance gap between the two styles, the Discretionary MTI is +6.8% year-to-date, while the Systematic has made it back into the black, but sits at +1.84% for the year.
