Advancing your portfolio and your best interests

    “Our clients – corporate, institutional, and individual – know that it takes focus and robust performance to profit during uncertain economic times. They choose CTA to effectively protect and grow their wealth. Clients retain complete control of their accounts while our unique management model, efficient advisory and trading systems, and global team of traders work for them around the clock.” ~ Bill Cara

  • Risk management, the CTA way

    CTAB achieves successful portfolio management is through a prudent process of security evaluation, timely execution and risk management. We believe that the keys to growing and maintaining wealth are in controlling risk, return and the costs associated with managing a portfolio.

    CTA protocols are designed to meet three specific objectives:

    • Meeting client needs and goals by assessing their level of risk tolerance
    • Creating client wealth through profitable trading strategies and tactics
    • Conserving client wealth via defensive trading strategies and tactics

    Bill Cara takes the lead in our team approach to trading, integrating proprietary fundamental, technical and quantitative analysis into unified strategies for managing portfolios. 20 specialists with extensive experience in trading, technical analysis, quantitative analysis and technical support apply those strategies.

    The team prepares a daily list of stocks we want to buy and sell by incorporating the work of our quantitative and technical analysts with our automated decision support systems. Bill refines that list throughout the day as the markets change and CTA’s professionals execute trades. We don’t trade individual accounts, we trade all accounts simultaneously using trading instructions based on the summary of total account assets and calculations of dollars/shares to trade. One trade is used for multiple accounts with each client receiving the average of the buy or sell price. No client is favored over another.

    We strive for deep understanding of the structure of capital markets, and of the nature of cause and effect in operation there. We look at how the broad markets, sectors and individual companies react to the external factors of:

    • Interest rates and foreign exchange
    • The economy, consumer spending and the commodity markets.
    • For individual companies, we look at business model and management, focusing on “best of breed” companies in their respective industries.

    We analyze risk exposure both before and after executing a trade. A designated risk manager monitors all portfolios to ensure the continuous application of prudent money management techniques.


    These techniques have stood the test of time:
    • Diversification and correlation
    • Proper position sizing
    • Careful entry and exit points
    • Hedging for safety
    • Options for additional returns

    CTA closely manages associated operating costs. Trading commissions are low because, unlike some money managers, we receive no portion of the broker's commissions. Client costs are further reduced because we trade in large quantities at a low institutional commission rate.

  • Our trading process is geared for safety

    Step 1 | Fundamental Analysis
    We review company fundamentals including but not limited to: price to earnings ratio, growth prospects, business model, management, and performance.

    Step 2 | Technical Analysis
    Technical Analysis evaluates a security by studying its price chart for momentum, trends and cycles, price action, moving averages, volume and more.

    Step 3 | Execution of trade
    Having determined to enter a position, we evaluate different strategies to minimize risk while allowing time for the position to be profitable.

    Step 4 | Risk Management
    Once a position is established, risk management becomes our focus as we carry the position toward meeting our price objectives.

    Step 5 | Trading Journal
    Traders maintain daily logs of all trades, detailing position sizes, the bases for the decisions to execute, and the specific of how the position is hedged.

    Step 6 | Technology for Trade Execution and Risk Management
    We use all tools at our disposal to manage risk.