What is a Commodity Index? A Commodity Index is a weighted average of selected commodity prices.  The purpose of a commodity index is to represent an asset class’ price fluctuations as a whole, or a subset of the asset class.  These indices are commonly used to quote movement of sectors within commodities.  Asset class prices [...]

What are Futures and Options? Futures are an Alternative Investment which is comprised of a standard contract between two parties to exchange an asset, but with delivery on a future specified date.  These products are traded on a Futures Exchange. Options are an Alternative Investment which provides the option to purchase/sell a specified product at [...]

Dow Jones Futures are based on the  Dow Jones Industrial Average, founded by Charles Dow on May 26, 1896.  This average is a dollar average of stocks from leading American Industries.  It began with 12 stocks and now is comprised of 30 Blue Chip, publicly owned companies within the United States.  The Dow Jones Industrial [...]

Alternative Investments is a term that is commonly used, however is quite broad.  The following is a list of some of the products types categorized as ‘Alternative Investments’, what Alternative Investments are generally not, and who can invest in Alternative Investments.  Alternative investment providers are typically compensated by management fees and incentive fees (i.e. these [...]

Futures Margin CTA’s who provide Managed Futures products monitor the necessary costs associated with holding contracts which provide the returns that are generated from their investing methodology.  Futures Margins are set by the exchanges the product is traded on.  The expectation of how much capital is necessary per contract differs for each contract, and is [...]

Futures in the USA have a long history of providing value to the American economy.  The following information provides an education of Exchanges, Clearing Firms, US Futures Regulators, and Brokers. US Futures Regulators The National Futures Association (NFA) is the industry wide, self-regulatory organization for the Futures USA industry.  Stated on their website (http://www.nfa.futures.org/NFA-about-nfa/index.HTML) : [...]

Managed Futures Accounts and Mutual funds have many similarities and differences. The below information compares the areas of Buying and Selling, Management, Fees, Approach, Documentation, Regulators and Risk. Buying and Selling Managed Futures can purchase futures and commodity contracts in either direction, short, or long. Long/Short strategies involves buying long equities that are expected to [...]

A Self Directed 401(k) is a is a US Government regulated Tax Deferral account from which you can invest in a Managed Futures products and defer taxation on capital gains. This is another way to allow the profit gained by investing in managed futures to compound.

Reducing Volatility within a Portfolio has always been at the top of the investor’s priority list. It’s the same priority as ‘less risk for more reward’, and is therefore a main goal of the investment community. The below pieces of information will outline how Managed Futures can meet this goal within your portfolio.

Asset Class Relationships When evaluating what asset class to allocate to within your portfolio, looking at asset class statistics is one of the first logical places to begin.  Performance of asset classes compared against each other pictorially shows the value of holding asset classes alongside each other.  With the asset class relationships clear, allocation decisions [...]