What is a Hedge Fund?

Hedge funds are alternative investments using pooled funds that employ different strategies to earn active returns, or alpha, for their investors. Hedge funds may be aggressively managed or make use of derivatives and leverage in both domestic and international markets with the goal of generating high returns (either in an absolute sense or over a specified market benchmark).

It is important to note that hedge funds are generally only accessible to accredited investors as they require less SEC regulations than other funds. One aspect that has set the hedge fund industry apart is the fact that hedge funds face less regulation than mutual funds and other investment vehicles.

High-profile money managers deserted the traditional mutual fund industry in droves in the early 1990s, seeking fame and fortune as hedge fund managers. Unfortunately, history repeated itself in the late 1990s and into the early 2000s as a number of high-profile hedge funds, including Robertson's, failed in spectacular fashion.4 Since that era, the hedge fund industry has grown substantially. Today the hedge fund industry is massive—total assets under management in the industry are valued at more than $3.2 trillion according to the 2018 Preqin Global Hedge Fund Report. Based on statistics from research firm Barclays hedge, the total number of assets under management for hedge funds jumped by 2335 per cent between 1997 and 2018.

The number of operating hedge funds has grown as well, at least in some periods. There were around 2,000 hedge funds in 2002. Estimates vary about the number of hedge funds operating today. This number had crossed 10,000 by the end of 2015. However, losses and underperformance led to liquidations. By the end of 2017, there were 9,754 hedge funds according to research firm Hedge Fund Research. According to Statistica, by 2019, the number of funds worldwide had reached 11,088; 5581 were in North America.

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