One of the benefits we often tout for working with a managed futures broker like Attain is ongoing due diligence. We’ve all been told a million times over how important due diligence is, and it makes a lot of sense intuitively – making sure you understand all the ins and outs of a strategy and manager before risking your hard earned money. But what about once you have invested… what about making sure the ship remains on course once you’ve gotten involved? Does a pilot just check the plane before takeoff and then ignore the instruments while in the air? One would hope not – they need to be constantly monitoring their instruments throughout the flight to make sure the plane stays in the air.

Many an investor believes that they’re fully capable of checking the flight instruments of their managed futures portfolio all on their own, and in some cases, they may be able to. Unfortunately, sometimes the instruments are moving so quickly it can be hard to keep track of the changes taking place, and – more importantly – determining which changes are important enough to inspire action. Think about it like stepping up to the plate in baseball. Different pitches will be easier or harder to hit. You’ll have your soft pitches that your 6 year old could get a homer off of, the fast pitches straight over the plate that you just need to keep your eye on to make contact with, and those dreaded change-ups that leave you wondering what just happened – it simply depends on the subtlety of the changes and the nuance executed in evaluation.

Just how nuanced are we talking? We thought we’d break down just a handful of the elements that need to be monitored and let you decide for yourself – is this something you feel can do on your own, or would you feel more comfortable knowing you have someone on your side, looking out for your best interests every step of the way? Click through to see what we mean.