TTU131: How CTAs manage their Cash ft. Mike Kastner, Principle & Co-Founder at Halyard Asset Management
Top Traders Unplugged
Niels Kaastrup-Larsen
4.8 • 712 Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2023
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, we are joined by Mike Kastner, Principle and Co-Founder at Halyard Asset Management, for a conversation on how they use fixed income instruments to manage the cash of many CTA portfolios. We discuss how managers have evolved in terms of the way they manage cash, how Halyard Asset Management construct a portfolio from a liquidity point of view and the current state of liquidity, how they approach credit rating and why they avoid buying paper from certain banks. We also unpack what they think the sweet spot for foreign exchange hedging is and how they approach risk management, why Kastner does not believe we are approaching a recession and that there is a likely chance of a significant fall in the long bond price, as well as what Kastner believes will happen in the housing market and much more.
-----
50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE
-----
Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.
IT’s TRUE ? – most CIO’s read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.
And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here.
Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.
Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com
And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.
Follow Alan on Twitter.
Read more about Halyard Asset Management.
Episode Timestamps:
02:40 - Introduction to Halyard Asset Management
04:12 - History of Cash Management
07:16 - What happened with money market funds?
09:34 - Has the Cash Management space changed?
11:02 - Cash Management philosophy
12:23 - A liquid portfolio
17:39 - Drawing the safety line
19:25 - Considering ESGs
21:11 - Managing cash in different currencies
22:41 - Balancing the mandates
23:52 - Managing risk
25:44 - Thinking about expected returns
27:05 - The evolution of fees
29:40 - Lessons learned
31:27 - How does Kastner see the world?
33:22 - Where are we heading?
37:00 - The global perspective
39:05 - The debt issue
41:30 - Why Cash Management is not Easy
43:00 - Expectations for 2023
45:59 - Thanks for listening
Copyright © 2025 – CMC AG – All Rights Reserved
----
PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:
1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about
In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here
2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score
One of the things I’m really proud of, is the fact that I have managed to published the Trend Barometer and Market Score each day for more than a decade...as these tools are really good at describing the environment for trend following managers as well as giving insights into the general positioning of a trend following strategy! Click Here
3. Other Resources that can help you
And if you are hungry for more useful resources from the trend following world...check out some precious resources that I have found over the years to be really valuable. Click Here
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It's clear there's parts of the economy that are in recession. |
| 0:10.0 | The bright spot is the hiring, the jobs market. |
| 0:13.0 | If for some reason the jobs market completely slows down and in fact goes in the exact opposite, |
| 0:20.0 | you start to see the unemployment rate |
| 0:22.7 | drift up above 4% 5% that could worry the committee the the Federal Reserve |
| 0:28.9 | Committee and if that happens they may be vested in cutting interest rates |
| 0:35.1 | and given their propensity to take the overnight rate to zero |
| 0:40.0 | several years ago, that would be a big concern. |
| 0:43.8 | I think it would be a big mistake for them to do that, but it is on my mind. |
| 0:50.8 | Imagine spending an hour with the world's greatest traders. |
| 0:58.0 | Imagine learning from their experiences, their successes, and their failures. Imagine no more. |
| 1:00.0 | Welcome to Top Traders Unplugged, the place where you can learn from the best hedge fund managers in the world, |
| 1:07.0 | so you can take your manager, due diligence, or investment career to the next level. |
| 1:11.7 | Before we begin today's conversation, remember to keep two things in mind. |
| 1:15.7 | All the discussion we'll have about investment performance is about the past, and past |
| 1:19.9 | performance does not guarantee or even infer anything about future performance. |
| 1:24.5 | Also understand that there's a significant risk of financial loss with all investment |
| 1:28.2 | strategies, and you need to request and understand the specific risks from the investment |
| 1:32.9 | manager about their product before you make investment decisions. Here's your host, veteran hedge fund |
| 1:38.5 | manager, Nealz Kostrup Larson. |
| 1:46.2 | Hey everyone, and welcome to another edition of Top Traders on Plot, |
| 1:50.0 | where today I'm joined by Mike Kessner, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Niels Kaastrup-Larsen, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Niels Kaastrup-Larsen and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.