As part of a regular exercise, we scan the NFA register for new and closed managers. The below report will be developed over time and will be a recurring feature. We would like to highlight that some of the closures and registrations are due to corporate (re)structuring. March featured a deceleration in the prior trends, and while we observed a net decline in the number of managers, the decline was a relatively small decline of only seven managers. This compares to the prior decline of 31 managers per month.

Among the manager that closed, we would like to highlight Red Oak and Portfolio Concept. Managers with long-term track records that pulled away from the US market.

If we are optimistic, the trend may have started to change in March as the curve flattens out considerably. We do not know if the Coronavirus changed the speed or if change reflect slightly better business opportunities for managers. Noteworthy is that the number of closed managers declined the most while the number of closed manager stayed at similar levels. A positive fact, is that the number of CPOs increased by one manager compared to the prior month.

In March, 25 managers applied for a new registrations with the NFA. As usual, most of them are located in the USA. Hong Kong was the second most popular location to start a new CTA. This largely follows the distribution of managers. Not all of the managers are new, but have decided to register a specific entity or may have decided not to market to US clients anymore.

Funds withdrawing registrations was slightly higher in March, with a total of 32 managers handing back their regulatory status. The same applies for closed managers, a particular manager may have elected to close a specific local entity and may still be actively trading. 27 of the 32 managers were located in the US.