Currency traders trying to hang on to gains

A strong October showing has the Barclay’s Currency Trader Index (CTI) at its high point of the year, although its gain is still precipitously small.

The CTI gained 0.85 percent in October and finished the month up 1.59 percent. Started in 1987, the CTI, which is comprised of 114 managed money programs (currency futures and spot forex) is coming off back-to-back down years.

October marked a turnaround for all of Barclay’s seven indices, as five of the seven are now in the black by at least 3.5 percent. The benchmark CTA Index is up 3.5 percent, and the Diversified Traders Index leads the way with a gain of 5.6 percent.

The Barclay BTOP FX Index, which tracks the largest investable currency trading programs and accounts for at least half of the investable assets of all programs tracked by Barclay, gained 0.93 percent in October to increase its yearly gains to 3.06 percent.

The index closed October at 1,038.73, its highest point since early August and less than 1.5 percent from the all-time high of 1,053.60 set in late July.