Currency Traders Up, Crypto Down, as CTAs Positive in September
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: October 13, 2021
September was a rare down month for cryptocurrency traders in the Barclay CTA Index, which is up 0.34% for the month with over 70% of funds reporting. Year-to-date, the headline index is up a healthy 5.2%.
Although it remains easily the best performing sub-index, crypto traders were actually down 3.59% in September (they remain 117.84% up on the year). This performance may change, for in spite of the industry’s obvious promotion of new technologies, only 42.5% of funds have thus far reported September performance (cue inevitable comparisons with certain crypto trading venues that halt operation when the market goes down!)
Elsewhere, currency traders returned 0.69% for 1.2% up on the year, this was second best performance behind the Discretionary Traders Index, which rose 1.58% for +8.07% on the year. Systematic traders were down fractionally at -0.04%, but at +4.35%, a real divergence is emerging between discretionary and systematic traders in 2021.
The MPI Barclay Elite Systematic Traders Index saved some of the model-driven community’s blushes, returning 1.04% in September for +9.91% on the year – making it the strongest performer after the crypto segment.
The BTOP50 Index, which seeks to replicate the overall composition of the managed futures industry with regard to trading style and overall market exposure, was +0.89% in September for +8.41% year-to-date. Elsewhere, the SG CTA Index rose 0.59% in September for +7.14% year-to-date.