A hidden cost is the commission cost. Vision LP isn't hooking you up with Ansbacher for nothing. Ansbacher will be trading your account through Vision, and Vision profits off the commissions. Find out what commissions Ansbacher will be paying Vision. Or rather, I should say "find out what commissions <b>you</b> will be paying to Vision." Find out how actively Ansbacher trades. An alternative to a separately managed account would be a managed futures fund (also called a "commodity pool"). The advantage of a fund is that you cannot lose more than your initial investment. With a separately managed account that isn't true. Another reason I would recommend a managed futures fund is that the manager usually works hard to find the lowest possible commission because they have a lot of their own money invested in their fund alongside yours (check to be sure this is true). With a separately managed account the manager is probably getting a lower commission rate than you are and trading his own money somewhere else. I think pools pay less in commissions and therefore do better in general. You can find information on pools and other managers at tassresearch.com, barclaygrp.com, cogenthedge.com, investorforce.com, autumngold.com, and ehedge.de. A few managed futures managers I can think of off the top of my head that have lower minimum investments (if Ansbacher's is too high) are: Meyer Capital Management minimum=$75k www.meyercapmgt.com Schindler Trading $20k www.schindlertrading.com BlackThorne Capital $50k www.blackthornecapital.com Quadriga $5k www.superfund.net Let me know what you find out in your research and who, if anyone, you go with.