I think this is the definition of ouch: http://www.iasg.com/groups/group/ckp-finance-associates-ag/program/ckp-masters-program
I can't believe investors didn't catch on the fact the CTA had been registered since 2001, but his published track record only went back to early 2009... doesn't that raise a few red flags?
They are not listed anymore on iasg. And from their web site "We are preparing a relaunch of our web-site. We will be back soon. Thank you for your patience." They will start again, with a fresh new track record, rise funds, make some profits, take their part then blow up and they will prepare another "relaunch" ?
I don't have a lot of sympathy for the investors who lost money in the fund. The guy doesn't disclose past trading history in his disclosure document, but he doesn't need to... he's exempt from registration with the NFA/CFTC because the program is only available to qualified purchasers. Anyone with more than $5mm to invest should be smart enough to do homework on the fund and the principal. If they don't, then its shame on them.
You know what I think is really shameful and gives CTAs a bad reputation.... http://www.iasg.com/groups/group/the-house-cta-llc The "Amplified Option Selling Program" has been around for a while, but was pummeled with a -44.20% performance in May. Pretty bad, right? Magically, on the very same day that this program registered -44.20%, the "House CTA" registered a brand new "passive Theta selling" program showing 8 months of track record, all positive. I'll give you no odds at all that these results are all hypothetical.
First of all, a good investor should be worried if he see that in only one month, (Nov 2009 Theta program) was an increase of 31.57%. This is madness. If this type of returns are obtained, then they also need to think on the other side of the story: when bad times comes, they should be prepared for a huge DD. heech, yes, if it's true, it's a shame what they did there.