Performance and the Potential of Managed Futures in the Market Crisis Period

Abstract

The growth of the managed futures industry increased dramatically in the late 1970s following the introduction of the world’s first financial futures contracts (foreign currency futures) by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1972. The first academic research on the performance of managed futures was published in the 1980s. Researchers who adopted similar performance metrics to assess managed futures in a different time periods also reached similar conclusions as earlier studies about the benefits of managed futures. Some recent studies also address the issues of performance persistence and market timing ability of managed futures traders. Following the onset of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, researchers also reassessed the diversification benefits of managed futures and the low correlations of their returns with those of stocks and bonds. Evidence reaffirmed that the favorable characteristics of managed futures investments were useful for investors looking for "crisis alpha" for their portfolios in periods with high market volatility.

Keywords: managed futures, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), market timing, performance persistence, post-2008 crisis, diversification benefits, correlations, allocation mechanism

JEL Classification: O16, L16, D81