CTA registered students have passed the training courses of NFA-accredited institutions, participated in NFA-accredited examination institutions and passed the unified examination prescribed by NFA. Those who pass the examination are guaranteed to register in CFTC and NFA by existing CFTC and NFA members. After reviewing the information provided by the students (including fingerprint files) and the certificate of no criminal record recognized by the host country, they can successfully register as NFA members and obtain qualifications.
In the United States, CTA (commodity trading consultant) is often synonymous with high salary. The annual salary of CTA is usually as high as millions of dollars, and the annual salary of star CTA can reach tens of millions of dollars. The famous Soros and Rogers are also members of the futures industry association. All fund managers involved in futures and financial derivatives are also registered with the Futures Association.
According to the statistics of institutional investor industry magazine Alpha, the average annual income of the top 26 hedge fund managers in the world reached 363 million US dollars in 2005, among which george soros, an international financial tycoon, was the third highest paid hedge fund manager in 2005, earning 840 million US dollars.
The fees paid by funds or investors to CTA include fixed consulting fees and performance incentive fees. The fixed consulting fee is calculated at 0-3% of the net value of the fund portfolio managed by CTA. The performance incentive fee is paid according to a certain proportion of the net value-added of the portfolio managed by CTA, generally between 10%-30%.
The United States has very mature futures investment funds. There are three types of futures investment funds: Public Offering of Fund, private equity funds and personal accounts. Public offering futures investment funds are similar to domestic open-end or closed-end funds, which are relatively transparent, but the participation cost is high, the operation is not as flexible as private equity funds and personal management accounts, and the return on investment is the lowest among the three. Private placement often takes the form of limited partnership, with flexible operation and low cost. Suitable for high-income individuals or institutional investors, with strict restrictions on the number of investors and the minimum capital contribution. Investors can also directly choose CTA to manage their own funds and open personal custody futures accounts. Investors directly hand over their accounts to CTA for management, which is actually equivalent to buying CTA's trading skills. Its advantage is that it eliminates the management fees of public offering and private offering.
CTA is the maker of trading plan and the firm operator of any form of futures investment fund.