Slow but steady for currency traders

Currency traders are two-for-two so far in 2007 as the Barclay Currency Traders Index (CTI) in February enjoyed a positive return for the second straight month.

While the index lagged behind others at Barclays such s the Agricultural Traders and the Systematic Traders indices, it nonetheless was up 0.40 percent on the year through February.

The index, which measures currency-based managed money programs (either futures or spot forex), was up 0.05 percent in January.

The index has had only four years of negative returns since first being calculated in 1987, but two of those years were 2005 and 2006. In positive years, the index has never failed to return less than 2.4 percent, with a composite return of almost 550 percent since 1987.

The BTOP FX index (BFI), which measures the largest currency trading programs, is down 0.18 percent through February. The index stood at 1,006.08 on Feb. 28, less than two percent from the all-time high of 1,023.64 set in December 2005. The BFI was virtually unchanged in February, falling 0.41 points, or 0.04 percent.