Its exposure to a variety of uncorrelated markets, such as commodities, energy, agriculture and currency originally made the commodity trading adviser, or managed futures strategy, one of the most compelling reasons for investing in hedge funds. It is one of the earliest hedge fund strategies, dating back 30 years.

Returns were routinely in double digits and not correlated with the stock market. Back in 1987, one CTA fund returned nearly 30% during the stock market crash.