Discretionary CTA
A discretionary CTA uses judgment on timing, size, and markets — often a global-macro book that happens to be futures-registered.
Definition
The PM reads fundamentals, flow, and technicals and places concentrated futures bets. Holding periods can look like trend (weeks) or like event risk (days). Concentration is higher; market count is lower. The regulatory box is still CTA.
Why it matters
It can express a view a systematic book will not hold (a turn before the moving average). It can also sit through a thesis that the tape has already killed.
Case
A discretionary energy specialist who was short crude into a squeeze. No 55-day stop existed unless the PM wrote one.
How to read it
Process, risk limits, and whether ‘discretion’ is a stop rule or a story. Compare path to SG Trend — if it is 0.9 correlated, you paid for a brand.