Hedge funds had a rough July, around the world and north of the border.

Just three of the 13 EDHEC Alternative Indexes were in positive ground last month, while Scotia Capital’s Hedge Fund Performance Index for Canada sank 8.61%.

Battered by the falling commodities markets, the EDHEC CTA Global index fell 3.38%, but remained the second-best performing strategy on the year at 9%.

On the brighter side, short-selling hedge funds—the best-performer on the year at 12.8%—were up 0.7%, merger arbitrage funds were up 0.27% (up 0.9% year-to-date) and fixed-income arbitrage funds were flat.

Only two other strategies have positive returns for the year: equity-market neutral at 1.8% and global macro at 1.1%. On the other side, last year’s best strategy, emerging markets, is this year’s worst, down 8.7%, and convertible arbitrage is down 5%.

Canadian hedge funds are up 1.26% on the year, according to Scotia.