Section 4 - R19 - Hedge Fund Strategies Flashcards
Features of Hedge Funds (List)
1) Lower legal and regulatory constraints
2) Flexible mandates permitting derivatives, shorting and leverage
3) Larger investment universe
4) Lock-ups and Liquidity Gates
5) High Fee Structure
Hedge Fund Classification Criteria (List)
1) Instruments (Asset Types)
2) Trading Philosophy (Discretionary, Fundamental)
3) Types of Risks
Hedge Fund Categories (List)
1) Equity-Related
2) Event-Driven
3) Relative Value
4) Opportunistic
5) Multi-Manager
EEROM
Equity L/S Strategy (Pros and Cons)
Pros: Liquid, Net Long, Similar Returns, Lower Risk if Market Neutral
Cons: If Market Neutral, needs leverage
Dedicated Short Seller (Features)
- Only short side exposure
- Moderate short beta
- 60-120% net sold on an asset, while short biased is 30-60%
Equity Market Neutral (Features)
- Uses Leverage
- Attractive during bear market
- Most are quants
- Oriented to mean reversion
- ZERO correl
M&A Strategy (Features)
- Trade Anticipation or Reaction
- Alpha is specific
- E(R) of 7-12%
- σ = low single
- ↑ Sharpe
- Left-tail risk
- Insurance Like + Sell Put Option
Distressed Strategy (Features)
- Illiquid
- Market to Model Pricing
- Net long
- Alpha is deal specific
- Risk is higher
- Cyclical
FI Arbitrage (Features)
- ↑ Correl between securities
- ↓ Less Pricing Inefficiencies
- ↑ High Leverage (repo w/ bonds)
- Return from yield spreads and correl between securities
- Each security has a specific credit quality and convexity
Convertible Bond Strategy (Features)
- ↑ Leverage to Implement
- Long Convertible = Debt + Long Call Equity / Short Gamma and Delta Hedge
- Illiquid
- Call is OTM; ↓ Volatility = ↓ Price
- Usage of hedges for interest rate, credit and market risks
- Good performer if high level of issuances
- May be 300% long or 200% short (delta-hedge justifies)
Global Macro Strategy (Features)
- Seek to profit from investment opportunities
- Theme focused
- Usually top down and fundamentalist
- Anticipatory and sometimes contrarian
- Heterogeneous as a group
Managed Futures (Features)
- TSM (Time Series Momentum) and CSM (Cross Sectional Momentum)
- Based in Futures Options
- Uncorrelated w/ stocks and bonds
- ↑ Liquid
- ↑ Leveraged
- Cash-liquid Balance Sheet
Volatility Trading (Features)
- Buy cheap vol & sell expensive volatility (get premiums)
- Long vol offsets long equity position risks during a bear market
3.
Life Settlement Strategies (Features)
- Analyze pools of life insurance contracts and buys from primary beneficiaries
- Surrender value offered to sellers is low
- Necessary that % of early death of insured person is high as per actuarial methods
FoF Strategy (Features)
- Slow reallocation of resources
- Diversification
- Should choose uncorrelated strategies