Forex Funds and Managed Accounts are Popular Alternative Investments.

Forex funds and managed accounts have become popular alternative investments. The term “Alternative Investments” is defined as investment securities trading outside traditional investments like stocks, bonds, cash, or real estate. The alternative investment industry includes:

  • Hedge funds.
  • Funds of hedge funds.
  • Managed futures funds.
  • Managed accounts.
  • Other non-traditional asset classes.

Investment managers are known for delivering absolute returns, despite market conditions. Using strategy-driven and research-backed investment methods, alternative managers try to provide a comprehensive asset base and benefits such as less risk through lower volatility with the probability of improved performance. For example, currency funds and managed account managers are in the business of delivering absolute returns regardless of how the traditional markets, such as the stock market, are performing.

currency-hedge-fund

Forex fund manager’s performances will not be correlated to any of the conventional asset classes listed above. For example, if the US stock market is down, most US equity advisor’s performance will be down. However, the direction of the US stock market will not affect a Forex fund manager’s performance. Consequently, adding a currency fund or managed account to a portfolio of traditional investments, such as equities, stocks, bonds, or cash, is an excellent way to diversify a portfolio and potentially decrease its risk and volatility profile. 

What Is The Difference Between A Hedge Fund and a Managed Account.

A hedge fund is defined as a collection of managed  investments that uses sophisticated investment methods such as gearing, long, short and derivative positions in the domestic and global marketplaces with the objective of producing high returns (either in a total sense or more than a particular sector benchmark).

A hedge fund is a private investment partnership, in the form of a corporation, that is open to a limited number of investors. The corporation almost always mandates a substantial minimum investment. Opportunities within hedge funds can be illiquid because they frequently demand investors maintain their capital in the fund for a minimum of twelve months.

The Trouble With Forex Trading Track Records

Forex Track RecordThe trouble with Forex track records is that they are challenging to verify.  One easy way to confirm a track record is by giving it a “common sense” audit.  Ask yourself these two simple questions:

1. Does the Forex track record deviate from the average track record of other well-established funds?

2. Is the record too consistent over time relative to other programs whose records are verified and audited?

If the manager of a Forex fund or managed account program states  “my program is up ++20% per month for the last 12 months!”; you can be almost 100% sure that the manager is lying, or he has only a few hundred dollars under management, or it is a proprietary trading operation that does not need the public’s investment dollar.

At A Glance: Forex Managed Account Track Records

Not too long ago, a trader asked me to review his track record, but I only had 5-minutes to do the review.  Is it possible to examine a track record in five minutes?   The answer is: yes. It should just take a few minutes to analyze a well-documented Forex track record*.

Unfortunately, most track records are poorly organized and difficult to glean any information from regardless of how long the reviewer has to peruse the trade statistics.  Well-organized track records will tell the reviewer the following (not listed in the order of importance):

  1. The Forex trader’s name,  location and the name of the program.
  2. Regulatory jurisdiction.
  3. Brokers name and location.
  4. Amount of assets that are under management.
  5. Peak to trough draw-down.
  6. Length of the trading program.
  7. Month by month returns and  AUM.