Flagship Program · Commodity Trading Advisor · CFTC Regulation 4.7
Tactical Alpha Futures
Saratoga Capital Advisors advises Qualified Eligible Persons through separately managed accounts in liquid U.S. equity index futures, a systematic program designed to complement, not replace, traditional equity exposure.
Program terms
Terms summarized for convenience; the advisory agreement controls.
Strategy
Markets overshoot on fear.
Short-term moves in equity indices are shaped by fear, forced and risk-managed selling, and behavioral bias. When volatility rises, selling begets selling, producing temporary dislocations between price and value. The program is built to identify those dislocations and participate in their resolution with defined risk.
Exposure is expressed exclusively through long positions in deeply liquid U.S. equity index futures: the E-mini S&P 500 and E-mini Nasdaq-100 contracts and their micro counterparts. The program does not short, and it does not trade options.
Mean reversion
Models look for oversold conditions using volatility measures and technical indicators. These signals seek opportunities to buy after market weakness.
Momentum
Models look for pullbacks within established uptrends. Entries depend on the conditions defined by each sub-strategy.
Volatility
Options-market volatility measures help identify trading opportunities and shape entry timing and position sizing. Volatility is a signal in its own right across the model library.
These three alpha sources (volatility, momentum, and mean reversion) are implemented through a library of more than thirty independent, rules-based sub-strategies. Each draws on a distinct combination of options-market volatility measures, technical indicators, and statistical metrics; some are driven primarily by one input set, others combine several. Options-market data informs the signals; the program itself trades long index futures exclusively.
Every entry must meet the model’s conditions.
Fear-driven overselling is a structural feature of markets: a product of human behavior and institutional risk mandates, not a temporary inefficiency that is arbitraged away. Rules-based execution removes discretion from the moment of decision.
Investment process
One decision point. Every day.
The program concentrates its entire decision cycle at the close of the U.S. session, when index futures liquidity is deepest.
Signal generation
More than thirty independent algorithms evaluate market conditions daily across options-market volatility, technical, and statistical inputs.
Aggregation
Signals are netted into a single book of U.S. equity index futures under fixed risk-budget rules.
Entry validation
Every condition of an algorithm must be satisfied at or near the 4:00 p.m. ET close; otherwise no trade is taken.
Execution
Orders are executed at or near the close, capturing peak liquidity in the final minutes of the session.
Exits
Exits are end-of-day only: a hard stop, a profit target, or a time-based exit. There are no intraday exits.
Position scaling
Scale-ins are permitted within limits; each incremental entry carries its own exit condition.
Risk management
Risk is governed before the trade.
Defined position sizing
Each position is sized as a defined, single-digit percentage of account notional with a hard upper bound. Program leverage is moderate: up to approximately two times account value.
Automatic de-risking
Position sizes are computed from current net liquidation value, so sizing contracts automatically during drawdowns.
Hard stops, coded
Every position carries a hard stop enforced at the end of each session. Stops are written into the system, not applied at discretion.
Diversified signal risk
Risk is spread across the sub-strategy library so that no single signal drives a large share of exposure.
No discretionary override
The program is fully systematic: entry, exit, and sizing signals are never overridden. Discretion is limited to reducing risk: the principals may reduce or halt trading, never add risk or force a position.
Portfolio role
A tactical allocation alongside your equities.
The program is designed as a diversifying complement to long-equity exposure. What it is, and what it is not:
What it is
- A tactical, long-only program that takes exposure selectively rather than continuously
- Built to behave differently from buy-and-hold index exposure through timing, sizing, and end-of-day risk discipline
- A futures SMA with client-owned custody, client-directed withdrawals under the account documents, and daily account-level reporting from the brokerage
What it is not
- Not a hedge, a short-volatility strategy, or a crisis-alpha CTA; when invested, it carries directional equity exposure
- Not market-neutral, and not an absolute-return guarantee in equity stress
- Not a replacement for an investor’s core equity allocation
SMA structure
Your account. Saratoga’s trading mandate.
Your capital is held in an account you own at StoneX. The account documents define Saratoga’s trading authority, fees, and the terms for ending the mandate.
Take a closer look at the program.
Review the strategy, account terms, and performance information. Materials are provided following confirmation of Qualified Eligible Person status under CFTC Regulation 4.7.
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