Question 1

What is Kettera Strategies?

Accepted Answer

Kettera Strategies is an independent alternative investment firm that operates Hydra — a managed account platform providing institutions, family offices, pension funds, and Qualified Eligible Persons with direct, transparent access to vetted CTA and managed futures managers. Kettera is not affiliated with any bank or distributor, which means our interests are fully aligned with our allocators.

Question 2

What is the Hydra Platform?

Accepted Answer

Hydra is Kettera's proprietary managed account platform — the infrastructure through which allocators gain access to a curated roster of CTA, global macro, systematic equity, and FX managers. Unlike commingled fund vehicles, Hydra provides each allocator with a separately managed account structure, delivering full intraday position transparency, flexible liquidity terms, and independent custody through BMO Harris.

Question 3

What types of investment strategies are available on Hydra?

Accepted Answer

Hydra provides access to managed futures and trend following CTAs, discretionary and systematic global macro managers, quantitative and algorithmic equity strategies, institutional FX and currency managers, and multi-manager CTA blended portfolios — all within a single transparent managed account structure.

Question 4

What does 'intraday transparency' mean in practice?

Accepted Answer

It means you can see your full position-level exposure at any point during the trading day — not just at month-end. Real-time VaR, drawdown monitoring, P&L attribution by manager and asset class, and sector exposure data are all accessible through Hydra's risk portal. This is the standard every alternative platform should meet, but few deliver.

Question 5

How does notional funding work on the Hydra platform?

Accepted Answer

Notional funding allows allocators to maintain full CTA strategy exposure while deploying only a portion of the nominal capital. This improves overall portfolio capital efficiency — a key advantage of Hydra's separately managed account structure over commingled fund vehicles where full-capital deployment is required.

Question 6

What liquidity terms does Hydra offer?

Accepted Answer

Hydra offers daily and semi-monthly liquidity on managed futures and CTA allocations. Because your capital is held in a segregated account — not pooled with other investors — your redemption terms are not subject to fund-level gates or lock-ups. Contact us to discuss custom liquidity structures for larger institutional mandates.

Question 7

Who can trade on the Hydra platform?

Accepted Answer

Hydra hosts CTAs and managed futures managers across trend following, global macro, systematic and discretionary, quantitative equity, and FX strategies. Managers trade allocator capital through separately managed accounts rather than a commingled fund, so an existing fund vehicle is not a prerequisite for being considered.

Question 8

How are managers evaluated before joining the platform?

Accepted Answer

Every manager goes through Kettera's multi-stage due diligence: quantitative review of the track record, operational and infrastructure assessment, an examination of the strategy's structure and risk framework, and background checks on the principals. Placement is never paid for — a manager is added because the review supports it.

Question 9

What does onboarding involve?

Accepted Answer

Once due diligence concludes, onboarding covers the managed account agreements, trading and give-up arrangements with the platform's prime broker, connectivity and order routing setup, and the reporting integration that feeds allocator-facing transparency. Kettera's operations team runs the process alongside the manager's own.

Question 10

What operational infrastructure does the platform provide?

Accepted Answer

Managers trade into an established institutional stack — prime brokerage, independent custody, and third-party administration — rather than building and funding it themselves. Position, risk and performance reporting is produced by the platform, which removes much of the reporting burden that comes with taking on separate accounts directly.

Question 11

How is a manager's intellectual property protected?

Accepted Answer

Allocators see position-level exposure in their own account, which is inherent to a transparent managed account structure. They do not receive the signals, models or research behind those positions. Confidentiality terms are set out in the manager agreement before any capital is allocated.

Question 12

How does a manager start a conversation with Kettera?

Accepted Answer

Get in touch through the contact form with an overview of the strategy, its track record, and the firm's structure. The investment team reviews every submission, and will come back to you on whether the strategy fits the platform's current roster and what a review would involve.

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