Kettera Strategies Heat Map - July 2020
In Discretionary Macro, July was one of the best months in memory for this category. The more successful programs were short USD, while long EUR, CHF, GBP or emerging markets. Long positions and spreads in precious metals also seemed to be a winner for most. The fixed income markets, especially yield curve trades, seemed to pose more challenges.
In contrast to their discretionary brethren above, the bulk of the model-driven quant macro managers we follow faced some obstacles during the month, although those that did well also caught the slide in USD vs. EUR and/or GBP. The more difficult sectors include fixed income and energy.
For systematic Trend Programs, many of the “old school” (longer-term) trend followers have been eagerly awaiting a period of higher volatility that extends for several weeks. When just such a period arrived earlier this year, it didn’t move the needle as much as expected for these LT systems. Most assumed this meant that shorter holding periods in trend following were the new theme. But July showed that some traditional players still have game. Gains came in nearly all asset classes (typically on the long side in each), notably in precious metals, bonds and rates, and North American equities. FX offered a varied experience, depending on whether one’s models were long or short USD.
Metals & Energy Specialists: Both spread/RV traders and directional programs turned in profitable numbers in July, particularly those long precious metals. In energy, choppy sideways markets presented directional managers a challenge – although most of the energy spread programs that we follow fared quite well.
Equity Long-Short. July was also a lucrative month for most L-S generalists, especially those with long positions in the U.S. information technology, healthcare and industrial sectors.
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For the “style classes” and “baskets” presented in this letter: The “style baskets” referenced above were created by Kettera for research purposes to track the category and are classifications drawn by Kettera Strategies in their review of programs on and for the Hydra Platform. The arrows represent the style basket’s overall performance for the month (e.g. the sideways arrow indicates that the basket was largely flat overall, a solid red down arrow indicates the basket (on average) was largely negative compared to most months, etc.). The “style basket” for a class is created from monthly returns (net of fees) of programs that are either: programs currently or formerly on Hydra; or under review with an expectation of being added to Hydra. The weighting of a program in a basket depends upon into which of these three groups the program falls. Style baskets are not investible products or index products being offered to investors. They are meant purely for analysis and comparison purposes. These also were not created to stimulate interest in any underlying or associated program. Nonetheless, as these research tools may be regarded to be “hypothetical” combinations of managers, hypothetical performance results have many inherent limitations, some of which are described below. No representation is being made that any product or account will achieve profits or losses similar to those shown. In fact, there are frequently sharp differences between hypothetical performance results and the actual results subsequently achieved by any particular trading program. One of the limitations of hypothetical results is that they are generally prepared with the benefit of hindsight. In addition, hypothetical trading does not involve financial risk, and no hypothetical trading record can completely account for the impact of financial risk in actual trading. There are numerous other factors related to the markets in general or to the implementation of any specific trading program which cannot be fully accounted for in the preparation of hypothetical performance results and all of which can adversely affect actual trading results.
Benchmark sources:
1-The Hedge Fund Intelligence Global Macro Index and HFI Currency Index
2-The Societe Generale Trend Index and SG CTA Index
3-The Societe General Short-term Traders Index: (same link as above)
4-The Eurekahedge AI Hedge Fund Index
5-The BarclayHedge Currency Traders Index and BTOP FX Traders Index
6- S&P GSCI Metals & Energy Index and S&P GSCI Ag Commodities Index
7-The CBOE Eurekahedge Relative Value Volatility Hedge Fund Index
8-The Eurekahedge-Mizuho Multi-Strategy Index: (See above)
9-The Eurekahedge Long Short Equities Hedge Fund Index: (See above)
10-Blend of BarclayHedge Equity Market Neutral Index with Eurekahedge Equity Mkt Neutral Index (see link above)
Indices and other financial benchmarks shown are provided for illustrative purposes only, are unmanaged, reflect reinvestment of income and dividends and do not reflect the impact of advisory fees. Index data is reported as of date of publication and may be a month-to-date estimate if all underlying components have not yet reported. The index providers may update their reported performance from time to time. Kettera disclaims any obligation to verify these numbers or to update or revise the performance numbers.
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