Now before this thread goes way off topic let's start over. Surf, you start a thread saying trend following is dead. You follow that up with "evidence" by pointing to one single fund who is struggling. In other words, you're cherry picking. I then respond with my own "cherry" that refutes that. You respond by saying I'm cherry picking and we should really look at a large group of funds instead of a single little cherry. So I respond in kind. I show you the entire hedge fund group and how they have gotten decimated by the S&P. In fact, their performance looks awfully similar to these trend funds. You then return my serve and start talking about your "niche" fund that made a killing in 2008, back to the cherry we are.
So Surf, I think this is an interesting debate. And I don't mind having it. But the debate has to compare apples to apples. If we are going to compare large groups of funds, fine, I've got data coming out of ears on hedge funds going back to the 1950's. If you want to serve and volley back and forth where we each pick out our favorite funds and see who wins, we can do that too. But you can't keep mixing and matching.
Now to be fair, I did concede that trend followers in general, broadly speaking, have put up mediocre numbers over the last decade. But so have hedge funds. In fact, so have most hedge fund strategies. I also pointed out, which you never responded to, that most investors use trend following as a "complement" to long risk asset strategies in which the combination produces lower overall volatility and higher risk adjusted returns.
So at this point in the match, I'm kind of lost here at the point you are trying to make. I'm not defending trend following. I believe I have graded their performance fairly and without prejudice. But I have yet to see your counterpoint. I'm sure you have one and perhaps you just forgot to post it. It happens. So I'll wait and see what you serve up for me.
