A big thanks to everyone who participated in our free webinar yesterday, Inside Managed Futures with Quantum Leap Capital. After a bit of a technical hiccup in the beginning, the conversation was certainly a productive one, and a great opportunity to learn more about Quantum Leap’s unique strategy and performance profile (click here for performance details). The key takeaways?

• Timing really is everything. Quantum Leap attributes their short-term trend following approach for their distinctive performance profile. While longer term trend followers may be limited in trade opportunity by the timeframe they use, Quantum Leap is able to trade several smaller trends within a larger one, providing more opportunities for entry.

Further Reading: CTA Spotlight- Quantum Leap Capital Management

• Bigger isn’t always better. Though Quantum Leap’s AUM is not exactly Winton-sized, and the number of markets they trade may seem small in comparison to the range surveyed by other managed futures behemoths, Quantum Leap told us that this was by design, and the program has delivered results that far outpace its size. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results, but it’s a point worth considering.

Further Reading: Second Guessing the Wintons of the World

• Focus is a good thing. While the managers at Quantum Leap may have taken an unconventional route in entering the space, their perspective, in our opinion, is the right one. Rather than launching a series of different types of programs, Quantum Leap indicated that they focus on trying to be good at one thing. This focus has produced a program that has only been altered one time in its entire track record, and that kind of consistency, particularly from the perspective of those conducting on-going due diligence, has been good for them.

Further Reading: Anatomy of a Style Drift

• Your options are more flexible than you think. While many investors associate managed futures with minimum investments in the millions, Quantum Leap Capital can be accessed at only $150k, and if using notional funding, can be funded with less.

Further Reading: Dollars and Sense in Managed Futures Investing

• A portfolio approach is really best. In discussing the performance of Quantum Leap in a wide variety of investing climates, we came back to one very important truth: no program can keep going up forever. However, by getting managed futures exposure via a blended portfolio of CTAs, an investor can diversify their overall investment portfolio in a risk-adjusted manner. Of course, risk management techniques – both at the program and portfolio level- cannot guarantee favorable results, but it’s certainly a better approach than selecting allocations without consideration for balance.

Further Reading: Is your portfolio buckled in?

If you didn’t get the chance to participate, you missed out, but don’t worry – the webinar was recorded for your viewing pleasure, and can be found below. Keep an eye out for the invite to next month’s webinar in our ongoing Inside Managed Futures series. We’ve already started planning, and you won’t want to miss it!