SI413: Why Trend Following Is More Than Crisis Alpha ft. Andrew Beer & Tom Wrobel

Systematic investing strategies, particularly Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs), continue to provide essential portfolio diversification, delivering strong year-to-date gains despite broader market volatility. The industry is moving away from the narrow "crisis alpha" narrative toward a broader framework of risk-mitigating strategies that contribute to long-term portfolio efficiency. Structural innovations, such as the increased adoption of separately managed accounts and portable alpha strategies, allow for more precise capital deployment and improved liquidity. While trend-following remains the dominant, established strategy, the CTA space is bifurcating as non-trend approaches—including short-term and quantitative macro models—carve out niche roles. Allocators must navigate significant selection bias within standard CTA indices, as these benchmarks often mask the performance variance between individual managers, making rigorous, multi-manager due diligence critical for achieving consistent, risk-adjusted returns.