<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>TITLE The investors guide to hedge fund strategies – A comparing study of hedge fund strategies on the Swedish market.</p><p>COURSE Bachelor Thesis in Finance </p><p>KEYWORDS Hedge funds, Hedge fund strategies, Swedish </p><p>hedge fund market, Investors, Average return, Riskadjusted return</p><p>The Thesis</p><p>Investor’s general knowledge about hedge funds and hedge fund strategies, is compared to other investment alternatives low. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to clarify to investors how examined hedge fund strategies separate concerning risk and return in hedge funds. This, in order to facilitate for investors understanding which hedge fund strategy will be more suitable for them. </p><p>To achieve this, the thesis is mainly focusing on quantitative data, which is complemented with qualitative findings in terms of a questionnaire. The hedge funds have been categorized after selected strategy. Furthermore a comparison between the strategies, as well as towards an independent market index has been made, using different measures of risk. </p><p>The thesis show that all strategies generate less return compared to the stock-related index OMXS, on the other hand the strategies shows a lower level of risk. Fund – of – funds have the best average return and risk-adjusted return, while Multi-strategy have the lowest risk. Macro is the only strategy who achieved quarterly absolute return.</p>

ABSTRACT TITLEThe investors guide to hedge fund strategies – A comparing study of hedge fund strategies on the Swedish market. COURSEBachelor Thesis in Finance KEYWORDSHedge funds, Hedge fund strategies, Swedish hedge fund market, Investors, Average return, Riskadjusted return The Thesis Investor’s general knowledge about hedge funds and hedge fund strategies, is compared to other investment alternatives low. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to clarify to investors how examined hedge fund strategies separate concerning risk and return in hedge funds. This, in order to facilitate for investors understanding which hedge fund strategy will be more suitable for them. To achieve this, the thesis is mainly focusing on quantitative data, which is complemented with qualitative findings in terms of a questionnaire. The hedge funds have been categorized after selected strategy. Furthermore a comparison between the strategies, as well as towards an independent market index has been made, using different measures of risk. The thesis show that all strategies generate less return compared to the stock-related index OMXS, on the other hand the strategies shows a lower level of risk. Fund – of – funds have the best average return and risk-adjusted return, while Multi-strategy have the lowest risk. Macro is the only strategy who achieved quarterly absolute return.

In recent times, the popularity of hedge funds has undoubtedly increased. There are shared opinions on whether hedge funds generate absolute rates of returns and whether they provide a strong alternative investment to mutual funds. This thesis aims to examine whether hedge funds with different investment strategies create absolute returns and if certain investment strategies outperform others. This thesis compares hedge funds risk-adjusted rate of return towards mutual funds, such as mutual funds, to see if certain investment strategies are more lucrative than the corresponding investments in terms of excess returns to corresponding indices. An econometric approach was applied to search for significant differences in risk-adjusted returns of hedge funds in contrast to mutual funds. Our results show that Swedish hedge funds do not generate as high risk-adjusted returns as Swedish mutual funds. In regard to the best performing hedge fund strategy, the results are inconclusive. Also, we do not find any evidence that hedge funds violate the effective market hypothesis. / Hedgefonder har den senaste tiden ökat i popularitet. Samtidigt finns det delade meningar huruvida hedgefonder genererar absolutavkastning och om de fungerar som bra alternativ till traditionella fonder. Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka huruvida hedgefonder skapar absolutavkastning samt om det finns investeringsstrategier som presterar bättre än andra. Denna uppsats jämför hedgefonders riskjusterade avkastning med traditionella fonder, för att på sätt se om en viss investeringsstrategi ar mer lukrativ i termer av överavkastning i förhållande till motsvarande index. Vi har använt ekonometriska metoder för att söka efter statistiskt signifikanta skillnader mellan avkastningen för hedgefonder och traditionella fonder. Våra resultat visar att svenska hedgefonder inte genererar högre risk-justerade avkastningar än svenska aktiefonder. Våra resultat visar inga signifikanta skillnader vad gäller avkastning mellan olika strategier. Slutligen finner vi heller inga bevis för att hedgefonder går emot den effektiva marknadshypotesen