Tages Eckhardt Systematic Short-Term UCITS Fund was one of the largest UCITS launches of 2020, raising more than $100 million of seed capital. The strategy has demonstrated a strong and differentiated return profile that is being recognized with substantial imminent inflows, including a substantial allocation from a large family office, and industry awards.
The fund has received The Hedge Fund Journal’s CTA and Discretionary Trader award for best risk-adjusted returns in 2022, in the short-term trader category. Returns of nearly 13% in 2022 were achieved with a volatility of only 7.5%. Equalizing this volatility to a more typical CTA level of 15% would have generated returns of over 25%, and the strategy can indeed be accessed at higher volatility targets. The UCITS volatility is capped at 12% but the strategy is also being rolled out on a 2x or 3x leveraged basis on the Galaxy Plus platform. The UCITS program currently pursues an identical strategy mix to Eckhardt Trading Company’s (ETC) Evolution program, which dates back to 1991 and has averaged volatility around 18% over more than 20 years. Evolution’s latest incarnation, including a more diversified strategy mix, has been years in the making.
ETC founder and CTA veteran Bill Eckhardt is one of the most seasoned CTA traders, but his firm is very much still capable of reinvention, which proceeds in a measured, incremental and disciplined fashion with each tweak and larger change subject to careful scientific imprimatur.
