From AI to cheese: funds seek fixes for trend following

Firms turn to machine learning, hybrid products and new markets to boost returns

When silver futures plunged 10% in the space of minutes last year, they found a surprising big buyer: Transtrend, a systematic investment manager focused on trend following.

Surprising because trend followers usually operate over much longer timeframes – of weeks or months. Transtrend estimates it bought roughly 40% of what was sold on US venue Comex before the market bounced back.

In the past, the firm would have steered clear of such crashes or panics. Now it is “selectively active” when