Traders that have helped to popularize commodity investing include Paul Tudor Jones, Monroe Trout, John W. Henry, Bruce Kovner, George Soros and the Turtles. Sure, MPT sounds like academic ivory tower, but MPT is all about diversification and reducing risk. Modern portfolio theory is standard practice in the smart investor's portfolio. MPT places a non-correlated investment, a predefined percentage managed futures component, into a typical bond and equity portfolio. Risk is diversified away from the bond and equity positions into non-correlated managed futures positions.
Higher portfolio returns with a reduction in risk is the end result.
The problem with MPT is explaining that you must take on a perceived risky investment of commodities to reduce overall risk. That is like saying you should put a foot out of the airplane to be more comfortable. That can be a tough sell to investors not familiar with such detailed portfolio refinements. A primary reason is that selling short allows profits when an asset class is declining. Many US investors, unlike their European and Asian counterparts, forget the US dollar is a commodity.