AlphaMetrix Launches Index Tracker Fund

The AlphaMetrix STTI tracker fund, launched in mid-December 2008 by AlphaMetrix LLC, is designed to track the performance of Newedge’s AlternativeEdgeSM Short-Term Traders Index (STTI).

The fund currently has approximately $70 million under management, with additional commitments from large institutional investors expected in the coming months, according to the company. In January 2009, its first full month, the fund was up 1.94%.

"Short-term strategies have little to no correlation to any traditional or alternative investments, making them appealing to investors seeking to add pure ‘liquid alpha’ to their portfolios," said Aleks Kins, CEO of AlphaMetrix. "Further, the Short-Term Traders Index includes a wide range of diversified trading strategies, with each CTA heavily vetted, highly liquid and completely transparent."

Interest in short-term trading strategies is rising for many reasons, including unease over the lack of liquidity in other alternative investments such as hedge funds, the counter party guarantee offered by the exchange-traded derivatives market, historically strong risk-adjusted returns, limited downside risk and low volatility.

"The index is a highly practical application of our research into the best ways to construct portfolios,” said Galen Burghardt, head of research for Newedge. “We expected short-term futures traders to demonstrate valuable diversifying properties, and we have been very satisfied with the results. We expect the index to produce results that continue to be uncorrelated to every major asset class and expect the average correlation of returns in the index to remain low. As a result, we expect the index to track returns in this space with very low volatility."

Case Dismissed Against SAC Hedge Fund

Federal Judge Stanley R. Chesler of the Federal District Court of New Jersey, Friday threw out a Canadian pharmaceutical company shareholder lawsuit against a group of hedge funds including SAC Capital Advisors LP.

The Judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying "The conduct is so egregious, and the futility of imposing alternate sanctions is so clear, that dismissal is the only appropriate sanction."

Apparently the shareholders had violated a New York judge’s order sealing documents in a related Biovail case.

"The record before the court suggests that these proceedings and the RICO action proceedings were all part of a choreographed strategy by Biovail and its attorneys designed to constitute a counterattack against the Biovail securities action," the Judge wrote.

"We are gratified that the court has seen through this charade and has dismissed the case," a spokesman for SAC said.