Managed futures traders lost 1.24 per cent in October, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.

The index is down 1.30 per cent year to date.
 
Six of Barclay’s eight CTA indices had negative returns in October. The Diversified Traders Index was down 1.96 per cent, Systematic Traders lost 1.79 per cent, Financial/Metals Traders were down 1.00 per cent, and Agricultural Traders gave up 0.71 per cent.
 
“A strengthening case for a December Fed rate hike, US election uncertainties, and OPEC’s failure to agree on production quotas helped put two-thirds of CTAs into the loss column for October,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge.
 
On the positive side, the Barclay Currency Traders Index gained 0.79 per cent in October, and Discretionary Traders were up 0.21 per cent.
 
“With currency markets pricing in higher US interest rates, the US Dollar gained against all of the G-6 pairs,” says Waksman.
 
Year to date, the Diversified Traders Index has lost 2.83 per cent, Agricultural Traders are down 2.06 per cent, Systematic Traders have lost 1.86 per cent, and Discretionary Traders are down 1.62 per cent.
 
Currency Traders have gained 1.10 per cent in 2016, and the Financial/Metals Traders Index is up 0.84 per cent.
 
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which measures performance of the largest CTAs, lost 2.16 per cent in October.