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The
risk of loss in trading commodities can be
substantial. You should therefore carefully consider
whether such trading is suitable for you in light of
your financial condition.
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here to view the Midshipman Services PL Financial Services Guide.
The
high degree of leverage that is often obtainable in
commodity trading can work against you as well as for
you. The use of leverage can lead to large losses as
well as gains.
In
some cases, managed commodity accounts are subject to
substantial charges for management and advisory fees.
It may be necessary for those accounts that are
subject to these charges to make substantial trading
profits to avoid depletion or exhaustion of their
assets. The disclosure document of a commodity trading
advisor ("CTA") contains a complete
description of the principal risk factors and each fee
to be charged to your account by the CTA.
The
regulations of the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission ("CFTC") require that prospective
clients of a CTA receive a disclosure document when
they are solicited to enter into an agreement whereby
the CTA will direct or guide the client's commodity
interest trading and that certain risk factors be
highlighted. This document can be obtained directly
from the CTA. This brief statement cannot disclose all
of the risks and other significant aspects of the
commodity markets. Therefore, you should proceed
directly to the disclosure document and study it
carefully to determine whether such trading is
appropriate for you in light of your financial
condition. The CFTC has not passed upon the merits of
participating in the trading program of any CTA nor on
the adequacy or accuracy of a CTA's disclosure
document. Other disclosure statements are required to
be provided to you before a commodity account may be
opened for you.
All
information contained in this report is based upon
information obtained from specific CTA disclosure
documents, fund prospectuses, or the CTAs themselves.
While the information is believed to be reliable,
because of the complexities involved with the data and
the fact that it has not been verified, we cannot
guarantee its completeness or accuracy.
Composite
performance tables are used to illustrate the overall
success or failure of a CTA in trading the futures
markets. These composite results are not indicative
of, and have no bearing on, any individual results
that may be attained by a CTA in the future. It is
important to understand that composite returns reflect
aggregate performances from all accounts traded and do
not reflect the different rates of returns achieved by
individual accounts. When available, CTA analysis will
always be compiled using performance tables that are
inclusive of notional equity. Notional equity refers
to the amount of funds that are pledged to a trading
account by an investor but are not actually deposited.
In addition, certain trading programs will have
historical performances based upon extracted trades.
Performance tables including notional equity or
extracted trading are considered by the CFTC to be
hypothetical. Although all trades used in the
compilation of the performance tables have actually
been executed, certain hypothetical assumptions need
to be made in order to estimate interest earned, fees
paid, or the amount of leverage used for these kinds
of accounts.
The
NFA requires the following disclosure statement in
reference to hypothetical results:
HYPOTHETICAL
PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT LIMITATIONS,
SOME OF WHICH ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO REPRESENTATION
IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO
ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN. IN
FACT, THERE ARE FREQUENTLY SHARP DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND THE ACTUAL
RESULTS SUBSEQUENTLY ACHIEVED BY ANY PARTICULAR
TRADING PROGRAM. ONE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF
HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS IS THAT THEY ARE
GENERALLY PREPARED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. IN
ADDITION, HYPOTHETICAL TRADING DOES NOT INVOLVE
FINANCIAL RISK AND NO HYPOTHETICAL TRADING RECORD CAN
COMPLETELY ACCOUNT FOR THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RISK IN
ACTUAL TRADING. FOR EXAMPLE, THE ABILITY TO WITHSTAND
LOSSES OR TO ADHERE TO A PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM IN
SPITE OF TRADING LOSSES ARE MATERIAL POINTS WHICH CAN
ALSO ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS. THERE
ARE NUMEROUS OTHER FACTORS RELATED TO THE MARKETS IN
GENERAL OR TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ANY SPECIFIC
TRADING PROGRAM WHICH CANNOT BE FULLY ACCOUNTED FOR IN
THE PREPARATION OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS
AND ALL OF WHICH CAN ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING
RESULTS.
Estimations
of CTA margins used, are provided by the respective
trading advisors. Although these estimates are
believed to be reliable, the CTA may at his or her
sole discretion place trades requiring margin far in
excess of the estimates listed in this report. It is
the customer's responsibility to maintain sufficient
capital in his/her trading account(s) to meet initial
margin requirements.
These
reports do not constitute a solicitation to invest in
any program included herein. Prior to making an
investment in a trading program, one should carefully
study the appropriate disclosure document required by
the CFTC. These reports are designed to provide
readers with accurate and objective information in
regard to managed futures investments. They are
offered with the understanding that the publisher is
not engaged in rendering legal, financial, brokerage,
or other professional advice. If legal or other expert
assistance is required, the services of a competent
professional should be sought.
You
should carefully consider whether your financial
condition permits you to participate in futures
trading. In so doing, you should be aware that futures
and options trading can quickly lead to large losses
as well as gains. Such trading losses can sharply
reduce the value of your investment. Although adding
Managed Futures investments to a portfolio may provide
diversification, Managed Futures investments are not a
hedging mechanism; there is no guarantee that Managed
Futures investments will appreciate during periods of
inflation or stock and bond market declines.
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