Tactical Insights: Kettera Strategies Report - January 2022 Edition
In the tumultuous financial landscape of January 2025, some managed futures programs managed to capitalise on the short side of the market, particularly in the equities sector. This is according to a recent report by Autumn Gold, which highlights the performance of various programs across different strategy types.
The month was referred to as the "inflation-fueled" period for systematic managed futures strategies, with profits being generated from major currencies in the FX sector, and long-term "value" oriented metrics being significant factors.
The top-performing managed futures programs for January 2025 include:
- Mulvaney Capital Management's Managed Futures Program, a quantitative equity program (QEP) that recorded a return of +12.45%.
- Blue Creek Capital Management's Global Opportunities Program, another QEP, which returned +10.46%.
- Blue Creek Capital Management's Metals Program, specialising in industrial commodities, also posted a strong performance with a return of +10.35%.
- AIS Capital Management's MAAP (2X-4X), a tactical commodity-focused program, returned +9.45%.
- QuantOn Solutions OCPAS's Managed Futures Index, a QEP, returned +8.6%.
For systematic trend programs, the report suggests challenging market conditions for trend-following strategies. The SG Trend Index returned a modest +1.05% month-to-date (early August), but is still down -9.08% year-to-date in 2025. This suggests shorter-term trend followers faced difficulties in January as well.
In the global macro sector, managers following the Hydra style experienced impressive returns, with the FX sector generating most profits. However, managers specialising in spread and relative value trading struggled, particularly in the energy markets.
The report also emphasises that style baskets are meant purely for analysis and comparison purposes, and are not investible products or index products being offered to investors. The indices and other financial benchmarks shown are provided for illustrative purposes only, and do not reflect the impact of advisory fees.
Regarding shorter-term strategies in managed futures, the available January 2025 leaderboard primarily highlights programs classified under quantitative and commodity-focused managed futures, such as the tactical commodity program from AIS Capital Management. However, precise shorter-term strategy performance is not separately outlined in the data.
In summary, the report provides a comprehensive overview of the top-performing managed futures programs in January 2025, highlighting the successes and challenges faced by different strategy types in the volatile market conditions of the time.
| Strategy Type | Top Programs (January 2025) | Performance (%) | |----------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|-----------------| | Quantitative Macro Programs | Mulvaney Capital Mgt (Managed Futures Program) | +12.45 | | Systematic Trend Programs | No specific Jan rankings; generally weak in 2025 | ~1 (trend index MTD Aug) | | Industrial Commodities Specialists | Blue Creek Capital Mgt (Metals Program) | +10.35 | | Shorter-Term Strategies | AIS Capital Mgt (MAAP 2X-4X Tactical Commodity) | +9.45 |
These rankings are from Autumn Gold’s July 31, 2025 report reflecting January 2025 performance, based on QEP-only data. More recent data shows challenging conditions for trend-following but lacks precise shorter-term managed futures results. No explicit ranked list was found for individual shorter-term managed futures or for other industrial commodity specialists beyond Blue Creek and AIS Capital.
- In the context of the volatile financial landscape of January 2025, some investors may consider channeling their funds towards quantitative equity programs (QEPs) like Mulvaney Capital Management's Managed Futures Program and Blue Creek Capital Management's Global Opportunities Program, given their strong performance in January.
- For those interested in technology-driven investing, the report also showcases the success of Blue Creek Capital Management's Metals Program, a QEP specialising in industrial commodities, which delivered a return of +10.35% in January 2025.
