Commodity Trading & Trend Following

Futures Magazine ran an article on how CTAs like myself took up the battle against MF Global and now JP Morgan.
Here is a short excerpt click here for the entire article.
And it is a process because CTAs are dealing with new brokers and how they should treat positions and performance. Like the initial reaction to [...]

Too many investors in commodity trading advisers chase performance numbers and then when their expectations are not met they leave the commodity trading adviser. One glaring example of this is EMC Capital Management. Their Classic program has been around since 1985 with a CAROR of approx 22%. I am sure not many of us can [...]

We all know what a pep talk does to a football team down in the 4th quarter of the game. It encourages them. It motivates them to win the game in the final quarter. Trading commodities and trend following is a tough game as is football. As trend followers and commodity traders there are times( [...]

I want to share a great article from HFMWeek.
Below is the article
14/01/2010 Author: Michael S Fischer
Managing the CTA market
Following a tough year for commodity trading advisors, HFMWeek spoke to veteran CTA investor Harry Ploss about his success in managed futures, and why there is still money to be made from commodities.
Harry Ploss started investing in [...]

Last year the truth was exposed with Bernie Madoff and so many others. There were CDs out of Antigua that were sold as safe but simply a ponzi scheme. There was the so called safe factoring scam out of Michigan.All of those investors sought to mitigate risk however doing so they increased their risk to [...]

Last year we saw the meltdown of virtually all asset classes and the end of easy returns. Last years double digit returns from Trend Followers have interested many investors and brokers to the commodity markets. Inflation fears are on the minds of many smart investors since the central banks all over the world have printed [...]

These are the exact words of Warren Buffett. Buffett was very clear when he stated ” policymakers will have to raise money to pay off costly rescue plans - one way or another”. So how do you play this.

It seems so many are looking for guidance in order to survive these difficult economic times. Did you Financial Advisor let you down this year. Is your IRA or 401k down 25-50%. The fact is that most Financial Advisors do not know or understand commodity trading or futures trading.

It goes without saying, nothing is safe. Banks are imploding and even gold has fallen almost 10% in a very short while. In normal times, the most time tested advice after a market decline is “Don’t be afraid.” The question is ,are these normal times? I would tend to believe not. More people lost money trying to catch a bottom or a good deal than at any other time. It seems to be a daily occurance with watchers of CNBC waiting to hear from the experts that the bottom is. The current economic situation can last for a very long time. However most people I speak with want to believe that it will be over this year or next. It makes me think of the people who left Lebananon or Cuba with a suitcase and thought they would be returning the following week. Those people are sitting on their luggages and are still in shock of what transpired.