Based on my proprietary "number of headhunters calling me about a job in a start up CTA" index I would expect the number of launches to increase in the second half of this year. Allocations lag good performance, and launches lag allocations. GAT
I'm with @globalarbtrader and expect a significant number of CTA startups over the next several months. It has become much easier to develop and market a strategy while the investor community is hungry for the diversification and alpha that is provided by managed futures.
As one of the recent CTA startups, I sure hope they will be looking. My only issue is that I picked a market that has an upper limit on the capital I can manage for my first CTA offering. I will need to port the strategy to the ES (easily done) and open the second offering before the first one is fully established. From some initial research, it looks like RIA's, rather than larger funds, may be a really good market. Since they are geographically dispersed, rather than concentrated in the North East, the universe of prospects is theoretically larger. The initial allocations should be easier to secure with less BS than the larger funds. It should be an easier sell for the QEP's to chip off $50-100K to give a CTA then try tosell a $1M or larger allocation to a HF.
I agree @Deuteronomy_24_7 and believe the AUM will come particularly to those willing to develop and market new strategies.