Managed futures lost 0.54 per cent in January, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.

The index lost 1.46 per cent in 2013.
 
“Gains in the last three months of 2013 were fuelled by uptrends in interest rates and equities, along with downtrends in precious metals and the Japanese yen," says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. “At the beginning of 2014, investor sentiment turned and these trends all reversed, sending managed futures performance down in January."
 
Seven of Barclay’s eight CTA indices lost ground in January. The Diversified Traders Index was down 0.88 per cent, Systematic Traders lost 0.84 per cent, Financial & Metals Traders gave up 0.52 per cent, and Discretionary Traders were down 0.26 per cent.
 
“Sixty three per cent of CTAs that have reported January returns have incurred losses on the month,” says Waksman.
 
The only CTA sector with a gain in January was the Agricultural Traders Index, which had a positive return of 0.42 per cent.