As the world’s investors become more sophisticated, the quest for portfolio diversification using more advanced strategies is growing. Investors from Wall Street to Main Street are seeking to include strategies that give them a low correlation to the stock market.
Managed futures is an ideal asset class to fill this niche, providing good opportunities for market professionals such as Introducing Brokers to expand their business to include managed futures products for their client base. Clarke Capital Management (CCM) has found this to be an effective business model.
Founded in 1993, CCM offers six different managed account programs with the longest continuous track record extending back to 1996. Since CCM relies on relationships with the brokerage industry to expand its reach, this offers an opportunity for brokers to partner with CCM to build their business.
At CCM we make ourselves readily available to speak directly to the prospects of our Introducing Brokers. This allows the IB to be able to open a dialog with the prospective investor and introduce them to CCM. CCM can speak directly about the programs, the performance, and the strategy, ultimately returning the investor back to the broker for opening the account.
This approach not only builds credibility of the program in the eyes of the investor, but also protects the interests of the IB and the CTA by putting the key elements of selling into the right place. For instance, allowing the CTA to discuss performance directly protects the IB from possible compliance issues that may arise from discussing returns. Likewise, since CCM is not a broker, there is no benefit for the CTA to “over trade,” since the CTA does not profit from commissions.
With program minimums beginning at $50k and extending up to $3mm, there is room for CCM to be able to work with a variety of prospective investors. For retail brokers looking to expand into managed futures, our Global Basic program has been a very effective tool. The minimum account size is $50,000 and the program can be traded notionally (although that does require some discussions of the risks of leverage).
Global Basic boasts a continuous track record extending back to 1996, so in our opinion, it has proven to be a robust strategy in a variety of markets. Since the program does not trade stock index futures, the correlation of returns versus the S&P 500 is –0.05, very near zero.
With a standard deviation of returns of 38.36%, Global Basic may, at first glance, be considered overly volatile. However, the downside deviation (standard deviation of negative returns) is only 14.31%. A review of the overall distribution of returns shows right tail skewness, meaning that most of the volatility is on upside returns. This makes the program attractive to retail customers.
With a lifetime average annual return of 19.98% and a low barrier to entry, Global Basic may be a good starting point for entering managed futures in your portfolio or business. Clarke Capital Management would like to work with you to grow a strong and mutually beneficial business. Please feel free to contact us to discuss how you can add managed futures to your business model.
For information contact:
Clarke Capital Management
5215 Old Orchard Road, Suite 650
Skokie, IL 60077
www.clarkecap.com
224.592.1010
