We were skeptically optimistic today when we looked at the asset flow report from Barclayhedge, which showed the best inflows for managed futures in over 8 months, gaining $1.2 billion to rank 6th of 16 hedge funds categories behind Multi-Strategy, Fixed Income, Event Driven, Distressed Securities (where are those recently?), and Emerging Markets. The ‘alleged’ inflow comes after $600 Million in March, and $8.6 Billion (2.5% of assets) over the past 12 months, according the Barclayhedge.
(Disclaimer: Past Performance is not necessarily indicative of future results)
Chart Courtesy: Barclayhedge
But if you recall from a few of our earlier posts, Barclayhedge labels the world’s largest ‘hedge fund’ Bridgewater as managed futures, including their assets and inflows in the mix. Back in September we calculated that Bridgewater represented a shocking 56% percent of the CTA space. That left us wondering if money really was flowing into managed futures for a change, or if the inflow was merely Bridgewater adding to its ever growing stash of assets.
Turns out, the inflow can be explained entirely by Bridgewater’s inflows, which we calculated as being $1.5 Billion in April, meaning the rest of the managed futures space saw yet another outflow. How does that saying go… the sky is darkest right before the dawn… Let’s hope dawn is fast approaching for managed futures and we start to see some real inflows soon.
