Long-Short Commodity Investing: Implications for Portfolio Risk and Market Regulation

A number of policy-makers have blamed the decade-long rise in commodity prices and recent market volatility on the growing influence of financial investors and called for new regulation restricting their participation in commodity markets. Market financialisation has also led investors to worry about higher integration between commodity and traditional financial markets weakening the portfolio benefits of commodity investment. This study, produced with market data and support from CME Group, first examines the performance and risk characteristics of long-only commodity index investments favoured by passive investors and of long/short commodity strategies of the kind implemented by hedge fund managers.