Key Takeaways
- • Standpoint Asset Management's Multi-Asset Fund, launched in late December 2019, delivered a 76.98% total return through August 31, 2024—substantially outperforming the average return of 28.44% across the 20 largest alternative mutual funds, which include offerings from AQR Capital Management, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan.
- • The fund achieved a 13.00% annualized return with a 0.92 Sharpe ratio, compared to group averages of 5.39% and 0.39% respectively, indicating both stronger risk-adjusted returns and superior absolute performance over the nearly five-year period.
- • Maximum drawdown for Standpoint's fund was 9.84%, performing better than the group average of 13.46%, despite seven funds in the peer group experiencing smaller maximum declines—a notable risk metric for institutional investors evaluating diversification strategies.
- • Managed futures have faced reputation challenges since the post-financial crisis period, when negative returns in four of five years following 2008-2009 dampened investor interest despite the asset class's earlier crisis-period outperformance.
- • Standpoint's strategy employs an all-weather approach combining returns across equities, fixed income, commodities, and currencies across geographic regions, with founder Eric Crittenden positioning the structure as addressing longstanding concerns about managed futures' ability to deliver consistent diversification throughout market cycles.
Summary
Managed futures face a persistent perception problem rooted in their post-financial crisis performance trajectory. While the asset class demonstrated resilience during the 2008-2009 crisis, subsequent performance deteriorated sharply. According to the Barclay CTA index, managed futures delivered negative returns in four of the five years immediately following the crisis, coinciding with a wave of lower-cost '40 Act product launches that attracted capital from institutional and retail investors. This timing mismatch—marketing the asset class on crisis performance while delivering weak subsequent returns—significantly eroded investor confidence in the strategy.
Eric Crittenden, founder of Standpoint Asset Management in Scottsdale, Arizona, has confronted this skepticism directly. Having witnessed the managed futures downturn at a previous position, Crittenden launched the Standpoint Multi-Asset Fund in late December 2019 with a structural approach he believes repositions managed futures toward their core objective: providing portfolio diversification and stable returns across full market cycles.
The performance data presented by Standpoint demonstrates material outperformance against a competitive peer set. Through August 31, 2024, the fund's institutional share class generated a 76.98% total return compared to a 28.44% average across the 20 largest alternative mutual funds—a group that includes products from institutional heavyweights AQR Capital Management, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan. Annualized returns of 13.00% versus the group average of 5.39% underscore the magnitude of the performance differential. Risk-adjusted returns prove equally compelling: the fund's 0.92 Sharpe ratio substantially exceeded the group average of 0.39%, suggesting superior compensation for downside risk.
Critical for institutional investors evaluating diversification strategies, Standpoint's maximum asset plunge reached 9.84%, outperforming the peer group average of 13.46%. While seven competing funds experienced smaller maximum declines, the fund's drawdown profile remains favorable relative to its return generation, addressing a key institutional concern regarding volatility management. Standpoint's all-weather framework combines returns from equities, fixed income, commodities, and currencies across multiple geographic regions—a diversification approach designed to function across varying macroeconomic environments and market regimes.
Eric Crittenden, founder of Standpoint Asset Management in Scottsdale, Arizona, has confronted this skepticism directly. Having witnessed the managed futures downturn at a previous position, Crittenden launched the Standpoint Multi-Asset Fund in late December 2019 with a structural approach he believes repositions managed futures toward their core objective: providing portfolio diversification and stable returns across full market cycles.
The performance data presented by Standpoint demonstrates material outperformance against a competitive peer set. Through August 31, 2024, the fund's institutional share class generated a 76.98% total return compared to a 28.44% average across the 20 largest alternative mutual funds—a group that includes products from institutional heavyweights AQR Capital Management, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan. Annualized returns of 13.00% versus the group average of 5.39% underscore the magnitude of the performance differential. Risk-adjusted returns prove equally compelling: the fund's 0.92 Sharpe ratio substantially exceeded the group average of 0.39%, suggesting superior compensation for downside risk.
Critical for institutional investors evaluating diversification strategies, Standpoint's maximum asset plunge reached 9.84%, outperforming the peer group average of 13.46%. While seven competing funds experienced smaller maximum declines, the fund's drawdown profile remains favorable relative to its return generation, addressing a key institutional concern regarding volatility management. Standpoint's all-weather framework combines returns from equities, fixed income, commodities, and currencies across multiple geographic regions—a diversification approach designed to function across varying macroeconomic environments and market regimes.
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