Key Takeaways
- • Standpoint Multi-Asset Fund (institutional share class) delivered 76.98% total return from late December 2019 through August 31, 2024, substantially outperforming the 20 largest alternative mutual funds (average 28.44%) managed by AQR Capital Management, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan combined.
- • Managed futures faced a reputation crisis following the 2008 financial crisis, when the asset class generated negative performance in four of five years post-crisis according to the Barclay CTA index, triggering investor skepticism despite the strategy's initial crisis-period outperformance.
- • Annualized returns of 13.00% and a 0.92 Sharpe ratio for Standpoint's fund exceeded the peer group averages of 5.39% and 0.39%, respectively, while maintaining a maximum drawdown of 9.84%—better than the peer group average of 13.46%.
- • Managed futures are positioned as a true diversifier capable of providing stable returns throughout full market cycles, with the flexibility to take both long and short positions across futures contracts spanning equities, commodities, and other asset classes.
- • Eric Crittenden's Standpoint Asset Management (Scottsdale, Arizona) launched its flagship fund nearly five years ago with structural design intended to address historical performance inconsistencies and restore managed futures' credibility as a portfolio diversification tool.
Summary
The managed futures asset class carries a conflicted legacy among institutional investors. While trend-following strategies demonstrated resilience during the 2008 financial crisis, subsequent performance deterioration eroded confidence. Following the crisis, managed futures delivered negative returns in four of the five years that followed, according to the Barclay CTA index, prompting a wave of 40 Act product launches with reduced fee structures but ultimately disappointing investor results. This performance drought created lasting wariness about the asset class's utility for portfolio construction.
Eric Crittenden, who experienced this performance volatility firsthand in previous roles, launched Standpoint Asset Management in Scottsdale, Arizona nearly five years ago with an explicit focus on restructuring managed futures strategies to deliver their intended benefits: portfolio diversification and consistent returns across full market cycles. His Standpoint Multi-Asset Fund has produced measurable evidence supporting this thesis. From late December 2019 through August 31, 2024, the institutional share class generated a 76.98% total return, substantially outpacing the average of 28.44% across the 20 largest alternative mutual funds—a cohort that includes offerings from AQR Capital Management, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan.
The performance differential extends beyond total returns. Standpoint's annualized return of 13.00% more than doubled the peer group average of 5.39%, while its Sharpe ratio of 0.92 demonstrated materially superior risk-adjusted performance compared to the group average of 0.39%. Critically, the fund achieved this with a maximum drawdown of 9.84%, substantially better than the peer group's average worst-case decline of 13.46%. While seven competitors experienced shallower maximum declines, Standpoint's combination of strong upside capture with controlled downside risk addresses the core criticism of managed futures strategies.
The structural distinction centers on managed futures' ability to operate both long and short positions across diversified futures contracts spanning equities, fixed income, currencies, and commodities. This flexibility enables the strategy to generate returns during rising and falling markets alike—a genuine diversification benefit that traditional equity-heavy or 60-40 balanced portfolios cannot replicate. Whether Standpoint's success represents a sustainable resolution to the asset class's longer-term credibility challenge remains an open question for institutional allocators, but the fund's performance relative to major competitors suggests that properly structured managed futures programs continue to merit serious consideration within alternative allocation frameworks.
Eric Crittenden, who experienced this performance volatility firsthand in previous roles, launched Standpoint Asset Management in Scottsdale, Arizona nearly five years ago with an explicit focus on restructuring managed futures strategies to deliver their intended benefits: portfolio diversification and consistent returns across full market cycles. His Standpoint Multi-Asset Fund has produced measurable evidence supporting this thesis. From late December 2019 through August 31, 2024, the institutional share class generated a 76.98% total return, substantially outpacing the average of 28.44% across the 20 largest alternative mutual funds—a cohort that includes offerings from AQR Capital Management, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan.
The performance differential extends beyond total returns. Standpoint's annualized return of 13.00% more than doubled the peer group average of 5.39%, while its Sharpe ratio of 0.92 demonstrated materially superior risk-adjusted performance compared to the group average of 0.39%. Critically, the fund achieved this with a maximum drawdown of 9.84%, substantially better than the peer group's average worst-case decline of 13.46%. While seven competitors experienced shallower maximum declines, Standpoint's combination of strong upside capture with controlled downside risk addresses the core criticism of managed futures strategies.
The structural distinction centers on managed futures' ability to operate both long and short positions across diversified futures contracts spanning equities, fixed income, currencies, and commodities. This flexibility enables the strategy to generate returns during rising and falling markets alike—a genuine diversification benefit that traditional equity-heavy or 60-40 balanced portfolios cannot replicate. Whether Standpoint's success represents a sustainable resolution to the asset class's longer-term credibility challenge remains an open question for institutional allocators, but the fund's performance relative to major competitors suggests that properly structured managed futures programs continue to merit serious consideration within alternative allocation frameworks.
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