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. Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva:

Three major foreign exchange shocks stand out for 2015, The FT recently reported — January’s de-pegging of the Swiss franc, August’s renminbi devaluation and December’s euro correction. Each was the result of a market dramatically caught unawares by central bank action. "There have definitely been some surprises," GAM investment director Adrian Owens told the paper. "We’ve had to get used to central banks being more influential."

Despite the year's ups and downs, currency traders have not, on average, done too badly. The Barclay CTA Currency Traders Index was up 1.74% (est.) in November, 5% YTD. The HFRI Macro: Currency Index was up 1% that month and 1.57% YTD. Although some wrong-way currency bets have proved damaging to some high-profile hedge funds, including macro funds run by Fortress Investment Group, Bain Capital and BlackRock Inc. 

On Deutsche Bank’s dbSelect Managed Accounts Platform, the Hathersage Long Term Currency Program was the top performer YTD (to end Nov.) with a return of 66%; the PE Investment FX Strategy was the fifth top performer with 26.45%, followed by the Quaesta Capital v-Pro FX Prog......................

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