The Striker Report - gold standard for objective trading research

Frank Pusateri

President, CTA EXPO, LLC

Program(s) Developed: The industry's largest EXPO for Commodity Trading Advisors (CTA)s and System Developers.

Interviewed by John F. Gallwas, Founder of Striker Securities, Inc.

Frank Pusateri, a 34 year veteran of the futures industry, is one of the early pioneers in the managed futures industry. In 2008 he founded CTA EXPO LLC, with the objective of building a bridge between Commodity Trading Advisors ("CTA") and investors. The basic function of CTA Expo is to service the parallel needs of traders, who are in search of new capital, and the desire of investors to find new traders. The conferences have expanded over the years to be a "must" for CTA'S, capital sources, brokerage firms, exchange representatives, and industry service providers. CTA Expo attendance has grown consistently and well over 400 professionals are expected to attend CTA Expo in Chicago on September 17, 2015. From the beginning, Striker endorsed the concept of CTA Expo and we are pleased to see record registrations at the conferences. Industry leaders Frank Pusateri in New York and his partner Bucky Isaacson in California, are the driving forces behind the success and we thought it's about time to find out how they identified the opportunity and why they have been so successful.

John Gallwas: This is a great story about "free-enterprise" and how you identified a real need within a marketplace and decided to do something about it. Let's start by telling us about what led you to recognizing the opportunity.

Frank Pusateri: The development and evolution of managed futures and hedge fund investing has been fast and furious over the last thirty years. Where once assets under management were counted in tens of millions today they are counted in billions. In the 1970's and 80's investors were almost all high net worth individuals. The early conferences had 100-200 attendees and everyone knew everyone. But today some conferences have attendance of over 1000 making it very difficult for emerging mangers to prospect.

The traditional way an emerging managers raised clients was by posting their program in the public data bases and by working with brokerage firms, brokers and independent third party marketers. With the growth in the industry and the proliferation in the number of participates it is almost impossible for one person or group to identify and cover the wide and ever changing spectrum of the potential clients.

CTA Expo was created in 2008 to help the emerging manager meet people in the industry with an affordable one day conference located in major financial centers. We are pleased to report that over 40% of our attendees in any one year have never been to a CTA Expo event before, which means to us that we are satisfying a market need.

We continue recommend every emerging trader attend at least one CTA Expo event to meet professionals and clients who might help them and to see how other emerging traders are developing their business.

John Gallwas: What led you to the one-day conference format in key locations?

Frank Pusateri: We limit our registrations to no more than 450 because we believe at some number of attendees networking becomes difficult. Last year in Chicago, we had 436 registered, with over 180 registered as capital sources, 68 CTA's, and many with multiple attendees including some System Developers that work with Striker. We try, and usually succeed, in limiting the number service providers to less than 25% of the total attendance. 45% of the attendees at our 2014 conferences were there for the first time.

John Gallwas: Describe the September 17, 2015, CTA/Expo program and the "add-ons" available to Participants.

Frank Pusateri: The program for the September CTA EXPO has two agendas. On September 16 we have a half-day agenda for managers. It is designed to give new managers basic background on what they need to do to structure their business. It includes advice on how to develop a marketing plan, the use of media and data bases to raise their profile and the important elements in the structuring of a back office. The 16th event is free but is restricted to managers that have registered for CTA EXPO on the 17th. The agenda is posted to the website.

The schedule of speakers for September 17 will be posted on the CTA Expo website when it is finalized. The program will consist of a mix of Industry professionals talking about how a manager can build their business, increase their profile in a crowded field, and how capital sources can make better allocation decisions

John Gallwas: Are there any new features at CTA/Expo in Chicago this September 17?

Frank Pusateri: One of our attendees last year suggested that since we provide the public registration list in advance of the conference we should provide the CTA Fact sheets we publish in advance of the conference. This sounded like such a good idea that for the first time, starting four weeks before the conference, and as we receive them, we will be making these sheets available to everyone registered.

John Gallwas: Is there anything new on for Expo for next year?

Frank Pusateri: The major change we are seeing is not in our agenda but in the scheduling of other, "invitation only", events as addendum to scheduled conferences that are educational or address specific needs of industry professionals.

This interview is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a solicitation of any kind. Trade only with risk capital. The risk of trading can be substantial and each investor and/or trader must consider whether trading systems are a suitable investment.