A futures fund or portfolio that is managed by professional money managers (known as commodity trading advisors or CTAs for short). Most individuals or companies willing to trade in futures markets lack the time and expertise to do so properly and profitably. CTAs, being experienced portfolio managers, trade on clients’ behalf on segregated accounts. Managed futures have been used successfully by professional investment managers for more than 30 years. Nowadays, institutional investors looking to maximize portfolio exposure increasingly rely on managed futures as an integral component of a well diversified portfolio.

Generally, managed futures accounts are more diversified and, thus, less risky than individual trading. Also, their trading costs (software, research, etc.) are spread across many clients.