Kettera Strategies' August 2021 Heat Map - A Graphical Representation of their Strategic Priorities for the Month
In the tumultuous world of financial markets, August proved to be a challenging month for many systematic trend programs, with long European fixed income and most commodities markets serving as detractors. However, some standout performers emerged in the soft commodities market, delivering consistent positive returns.
Three such programs leading the pack are Lynx Asset Management’s Lynx Program, Mandatum Managed Futures Fund, and Mark Chapin's Triton Bay CTA. These programs have excelled due to their strong trend-following strategies in soft commodities such as sugar, wheat, and livestock.
The key to their outperformance lies in diversified commodity exposure, adaptive trend following, and dynamic risk allocation. For instance, the Lynx Program and Mandatum gained significantly in July 2025 due to profits in soft commodities and equity indices, demonstrating effective exposure and trend capture in soft sectors.
Triton Bay, meanwhile, distinguishes itself by employing a blend of trend, counter-trend, and pattern recognition strategies with a short-term horizon. This approach allows for quick adaptation to changing market environments in sectors including livestock and grains.
Programs like R Best’s World Select also stand out for their dynamic risk allocation across multiple sectors, including agriculture. This strategy, which adjusts long-short portfolios to market conditions, has contributed to steady performance over the years, with a 7.5% average annual return since 2016.
Strong agricultural trends have also played a significant role in the success of these programs. According to KMLM’s Q2 2025 review, commodities such as live cattle, sugar, and wheat were top contributors due to clear trending price behavior. Volatility in other sectors like copper moderated returns, but did not deter the overall performance.
Faster trend following CTAs with significant allocations to stock indices and currencies also supported returns indirectly, benefiting commodity trends. Alternative trend followers, on the other hand, had gains in agricultural commodities, equities, and FX.
As we look beyond August, these programs differentiate themselves by tailoring trend techniques specifically suited to the unique behaviors of soft commodity markets and by broad, multi-sector diversification within systematic trend following. This approach helps capture persistent trends while controlling drawdowns from more volatile or less predictable markets like energy or metals.
Elsewhere in the markets, equities emerged as the best sector for quantitative global macro strategies in August. Most relative value / arbitrage / spread programs also performed admirably, while short positions in corn and soybeans were profitable for agricultural commodities specialists.
It's important to note that the views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of AlphaWeek or The Sortino Group. The performance data for various indices mentioned in this article, such as the Eurekahedge-Mizuho Multi-Strategy Index, BarclayHedge Currency Traders Index, and Eurekahedge Long Short Equities Hedge Fund Index, among others, were not provided.
In conclusion, the resilience and adaptability of these top systematic trend programs in the soft commodities market serve as a testament to the power of diversified, dynamic, and trend-focused strategies in navigating market volatility.
In the realm of technology, advanced algorithms and dynamic risk allocation systems have been integral to the success of these top systematic trend programs in the soft commodities market. Additionally, the implementation of various trend strategies, such as short-term horizon approaches and blends of trend, counter-trend, and pattern recognition, has allowed these programs to adapt quickly to changing market environments.
