Evaluating Managed Futures Managers With Mark Melin
b'In this episode of\\xa0Strategic Investor Radio, host Charlie Wright interviews Mark Melin, managed futures consultant, columnist and staff writer for ValueWalk.com, and author of three books on managed futures.
Growing up in Chicago, Mr. Melin says that most of his friends\\u2019 fathers were derivatives traders. Derivatives were the center of the financial universe from his perspective, and this background has served him well. Mark has 15 years of experience in the managed futures industry, and in 2011, he made the jump over to journalism. \\u201cI never realized I would enjoy a job as much as I do,\\u201d he says of the transition, adding that it has allowed him to \\u201cbroaden [his] horizons.\\u201d
When asked by Charlie to give a 60-second definition of managed futures, Mark focuses on the\\xa0managed\\xa0part, defining it as professional management of regulated derivatives contracts. \\u201cAlpha,\\u201d in the managed futures world, doesn\\u2019t refer to beating the SP 500, but being uncorrelated with it. Charlie says non-correlation is \\u201cmore important now than ever these days after a 7-8 bull run,\\u201d and that \\u201cin a bear market, the only thing that goes up is correlation.\\u201d'