Hey Aaron, I have a few questions for you. I'm sure you don't want to go into details, but what can you tell me about the 38% drawdown you had in the beginning of 2003? And did you make any changes to your system after that to control that kind of drawdown in the future? Also, I noticed on your website you trade the SP mini-s, the NQ's and the 10 year note along with German indexes. Have you added any new trading products and will you as your fund grows in the future? Is your minimum still 20k to invest and if so, do you have to add 20k at a time or can you add funds in smaller lots? Last question, are you German? If so, from what parts? Good job on the numbers you are putting up so far this year. Btw, are those numbers net of fees?
Thanks for your interest. About our drawdowns... The Schindler Trading program is very volatile. We've got a 14% standard deviation of monthly returns. String a few lousy months together and you get a big drawdown. String a few good months together and you get a big runup. For example, in the four months following the 39% drawdown we had a 77% runup! The moral of the story is to keep your allocation to the Schindler Trading program to less than 10% of your portfolio. At this size a 40% drawdown is only a 4% drop in your portfolio value. There have been no changes made to the risk level or goal of the Schindler Trading program. Our goal is still to make as much money as we can and we take on a lot of risk in the process. We've recently added the EuroFX futures to the Schindler Trading program and will continue to add products in the future as our research progresses. Yes, the minimum investment in the Schindler Trading program is still $20k (as it was when we started in 2001). You have to add it all at once. After your account is opened (with $20k min) you can make additions as small as $1k. I'm of German heritage but grew up in Milwaukee, WI, and currently live in Illinois. Thanks for your congratulations. All numbers posted on our website and in my performance update letters are net of 2%/20% fees. (That's 2% of assets annually and 20% of net new profits above a highwater mark.) PM your email address to me if you'd like a copy of the April performance update letter that went out yesterday. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RETURNS.
I got an email update from Quadriga that they were down double-digits in April. Does anyone know the exact %?
LOL. Not really. Most trend following hedge funds have 30% to 40% drawdowns from time to time. Quadriga's are usually in the 25% range. The fund is up 5% for the year after being up 35% last year and every year since 1996. If you can't handle drawdowns, don't get into hedge funds. LOL. I can't make it any simpler then that.
Thanks for all of your LOL's. I am not attacking Quadriga, just making a statement. So, you do not have to come to their defense. I am sure they are well run, but no matter how you cut it 20% in one month is PAINFUL.