Two prominent CTA indices have published positive year-to-date returns for managed futures funds, highlighting a promising start to the year for this sector. 

The BarclayHedge CTA Index, a leading industry benchmark of representative performance of commodity trading advisors is up 0.85% for 2012 and the Newedge CTA index, designed to track the largest CTAs and be representative of the managed futures space is up 0.93% for the same period. 
 
“Following the choppy markets in 2011, we have seen a noticeable shift in performance this year, pointing towards the trending market environment which is more suited to CTAs and managed futures players,” says Pauline Modjeski (pictured), President of Horizon Cash Management, which has a particular expertise in managed futures and seeks to maximize cash balance returns for over 70 separate managed accounts.    

Horizon is a 21-year old operation which manages some USD2.5 billion in cash deposits.  The firm was founded in 1991 by Diane Mix (now Chairman) and since then has been offering cash management solutions to global clients including managed futures funds, family offices, hedge funds and institutional investors.  Horizon’s cash management services are complemented by Secure Deposits solutions which have become increasingly popular as the current financial crisis has taken its toll on some participants.