Quants Chasing Trends in Exotic Markets Hit by Commodity Turmoil

Hedge funds riding the momentum of alternative markets — everything from electricity and eggs to carbon emissions — are nursing outsized losses as Donald Trump’s trade war whips up volatility across assets.

Alternative trend funds — a subset of trend followers who focus on niche markets, often in the commodities space — are posting heavy losses this year as tariff uncertainty hits a slew of assets, in particular in the energy sector. It follows a miserable 2024, when fickle price trends also hammered performance.

At Man Group, the pioneering AHL Evolution was down 8.5% in 2025 through April after ...