Paskewitz Asset Management is launching a master-feeder fund for its Contrarian S&P 500 Stock Index program, with an offshore fund launching Dec. 1, and an onshore version debuting Jan. 1.

The firm’s five-year old strategy is up 21.85% through October and an estimated 23% year-to-date. The strategy currently manages some $90 million.

The fully-systematic contrarian strategy invests exclusively in Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures. It uses multiple models to forecast short- and intermediate-term tops and bottoms in the index, and then simultaneously generates trades, buying identified market bottoms, and selling identified tops. 

"We believe that the contrarian nature of the strategy monetizes a fundamental inefficiency in human behavior," said Bradford Paskewitz, founder. "We are short-term value investors who exploit the herd-following behavior in the market based on investor greed, and especially lately, panic."

Paskewitz founded the firm in May 2003 after working on radar signal processing for missiles at General Electric. He also spearheaded an artificial heart project for Electro-Catheter Corp., a medical device company.