The risk of loss in trading commodities can be substantial. You should therefore carefully consider whether such trading is suitable for you in light of your financial condition.
The high degree of leverage that is often obtainable in commodity trading can work against you as well as for you. The use of leverage can lead to large losses as well as gains.
In some cases, managed commodity accounts are subject to substantial charges for management and advisory fees. It may be necessary for those accounts that are subject to these charges to make substantial trading profits to avoid depletion or exhaustion of their assets. The disclosure document of a commodity trading advisor ("CTA") contains a complete description of the principal risk factors and each fee to be charged to your account by the CTA.
The regulations of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") require that prospective clients of a CTA receive a disclosure document when they are solicited to enter into an agreement whereby the CTA will direct or guide the client's commodity interest trading and that certain risk factors be highlighted. This document can be obtained directly from the CTA. This brief statement cannot disclose all of the risks and other significant aspects of the commodity markets. Therefore, you should proceed directly to the disclosure document and study it carefully to determine whether such trading is appropriate for you in light of your financial condition. The CFTC has not passed upon the merits of participating in the trading program of any CTA nor on the adequacy or accuracy of a CTA's disclosure document. Other disclosure statements are required to be provided you before a commodity account may be opened for you.
All information contained in this report is based upon information obtained from specific CTA disclosure documents, fund prospectuses, or the CTAs themselves. While the information is believed to be reliable, because of the complexities involved with the data and the fact that it has not been verified, we cannot guarantee its completeness or accuracy.
Composite performance tables are used to illustrate the overall success or failure of a CTA in trading the futures markets. These composite results are not indicative of, and have no bearing on, any individual results that may be attained by a CTA in the future. It is important to understand that composite returns reflect aggregate performances from all accounts traded and do not reflect the different rates of returns achieved by individual accounts. When available, CTA analysis will always be compiled using performance tables that are inclusive of notional equity. Notional equity refers to the amount of funds that are pledged to a trading account by an investor but are not actually deposited. In addition, certain trading programs will have historical performances based upon extracted trades. Performance tables including notional equity or extracted trading are considered by the CFTC to be hypothetical. Although all trades used in the compilation of the performance tables have actually been executed, certain hypothetical assumptions need to be made in order to estimate interest earned, fees paid, or the amount of leverage used for these kinds of accounts.
The NFA requires the following disclosure statement in reference to hypothetical results:
HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT LIMITATIONS, SOME OF WHICH ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN. IN FACT, THERE ARE FREQUENTLY SHARP DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND THE ACTUAL RESULTS SUBSEQUENTLY ACHIEVED BY ANY PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM. ONE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS IS THAT THEY ARE GENERALLY PREPARED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. IN ADDITION, HYPOTHETICAL TRADING DOES NOT INVOLVE FINANCIAL RISK AND NO HYPOTHETICAL TRADING RECORD CAN COMPLETELY ACCOUNT FOR THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RISK IN ACTUAL TRADING. FOR EXAMPLE, THE ABILITY TO WITHSTAND LOSSES OR TO ADHERE TO A PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM IN SPITE OF TRADING LOSSES ARE MATERIAL POINTS WHICH CAN ALSO ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS. THERE ARE NUMEROUS OTHER FACTORS RELATED TO THE MARKETS IN GENERAL OR TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ANY SPECIFIC TRADING PROGRAM WHICH CANNOT BE FULLY ACCOUNTED FOR IN THE PREPARATION OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND ALL OF WHICH CAN ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS.
Estimations of CTA margin use are provided by the respective trading advisors. Although these estimates are believed to be reliable, the CTA may at his or her sole discretion place trades requiring margin far in excess of the estimates listed in this report. It is the customer's responsibility to maintain sufficient capital in his/her trading account(s) to meet initial margin requirements.
These reports do not constitute a solicitation to invest in any program included herein. Prior to making an investment in a trading program, one should carefully study the appropriate disclosure document required by the CFTC. These reports are designed to provide readers with accurate and objective information in regard to managed futures investments. They are offered with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, financial, brokerage, or other professional advice. If legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
You should carefully consider whether your financial condition permits you to participate in futures trading. In so doing, you should be aware that futures and options trading can quickly lead to large losses as well as gains. Such trading losses can sharply reduce the value of your investment.
All information provided on these pages is for fair use. Normal copyright protections apply to all commercial use of any documents or information retrieved from this site. Catranis.com are not responsible for any loss due to inaccuracies in the information provided. Nothing presented on this site should be construed as investment advice or recommendations.
Although adding Managed Futures investments to a portfolio may provide diversification, Managed Futures investments are not a hedging mechanism; there is no guarantee that Managed Futures investments will appreciate during periods of inflation or stock and bond market declines.
