[JackFr]

Im pretty sure they exist to beat the market.

They are called “hedge funds” because, as opposed to other stock funds they were allowed to take short positions while mutual funds could not, and so they could hedge some of their risk.

[infecto]

Yes but what market? That was my point, nothing to do with why they are named as they are. Sure, many in the 2-20 bubble had this weird existence where they did not really do much but in general its hard to make a statement about their AUM and returns compared to the S&P500 without know what they were trying to achieve.

[ITB]

If a hedge fund returns a bit under SP500 on average but is more predictable and always has a positive return, it will definitely be desirable.

[JackFr]

You can trivially create that with a portfolio split between T-bills and the S&P.

[bluedevil2k]

> always has a positive return

Not possible. Even the greatest mutual fund manager in the history of the world, Warren Buffet, has beat the market only 39 out of 58 years.

[renewiltord]

Well, it's close to possible since Rentec did it for decades.

[phyalow]

Lookup TGS Management, there are many others out there…

[CPLX]

Even if it’s not predictable and is occasionally negative it’s still really valuable if it’s totally uncorrelated.