This diploma thesis deals with hedge funds' strategies' analysis. First part is about an introduction into collective investment schemes, shares funds and investment funds. The reader can find the pros and cons of collective investment schemes in the next part. The second section focuses on investment approaches of four hedge fund strategies: global macro, directional, event-driven and relative value, whereby the strategies' classification corresponds with the most common databases of financial providers. They are divided into subcategories and each strategy is characterized by its principle. Special attention is paid to a specific kind of a hedge fund, the so called Fund of Funds. The strategies' rates of return in different market conditions are compared in the conclusion.

<p>Background:</p><p>Hedge funds have its origin in 1949 when Alfred W Jones constructed a fund that used a new technique where he took long positions and hedged them with short positions. This fund got a large publicity when it was proved that it had outperformed any other fund by 87 percent during a ten year period. Though, it was not until the early 1990’s hedge funds became popular for the general public. The goal for hedge funds in general is to yield an absolute return and there are many different strategies for reaching this goal. This has lead to the following three research questions:</p><p>Have Hedge funds been able to reach its goal for an absolute return in both bullish and bearish times?</p><p>Which strategy has shown the best performance in markets on the rise and in declining markets and is it possible to place the different strategies in order of precedence?</p><p>Is it possible to come up with a guideline for investing in hedge funds on the Swedish market?</p><p>Purpose:</p><p>The purpose with this thesis is to study the returns on a large number of hedge funds in the American fund market based upon their investment strategy, both when the market is gaining and when it is declining.</p><p>Method:</p><p>In this thesis we have investigated twelve different strategies in the American market. By using secondary data from HFRI’s hedge fund database we have conducted a quantitative research by calculating key statistics for the strategies. We have also plotted performance diagrams were the strategies are compared with S&P 500. To be able to answer our research questions we constructed a table containing a summary of the risk and return for the strategies in bullish and bearish market times.</p><p>Results:</p><p>Our research showed that there were two strategies that were capable of delivering an absolute return for the entire period. However, when looking deeper into the yearly returns we found that there were another eight strategies that presented a negative return for just one out of the total eleven years. To conclude the research we have placed the strategies in order of precedence that works as a guideline for investing in the Swedish market in bull and bear markets.</p>

Background: Hedge funds have its origin in 1949 when Alfred W Jones constructed a fund that used a new technique where he took long positions and hedged them with short positions. This fund got a large publicity when it was proved that it had outperformed any other fund by 87 percent during a ten year period. Though, it was not until the early 1990’s hedge funds became popular for the general public. The goal for hedge funds in general is to yield an absolute return and there are many different strategies for reaching this goal. This has lead to the following three research questions: Have Hedge funds been able to reach its goal for an absolute return in both bullish and bearish times? Which strategy has shown the best performance in markets on the rise and in declining markets and is it possible to place the different strategies in order of precedence? Is it possible to come up with a guideline for investing in hedge funds on the Swedish market? Purpose: The purpose with this thesis is to study the returns on a large number of hedge funds in the American fund market based upon their investment strategy, both when the market is gaining and when it is declining. Method: In this thesis we have investigated twelve different strategies in the American market. By using secondary data from HFRI’s hedge fund database we have conducted a quantitative research by calculating key statistics for the strategies. We have also plotted performance diagrams were the strategies are compared with S&amp;P 500. To be able to answer our research questions we constructed a table containing a summary of the risk and return for the strategies in bullish and bearish market times. Results: Our research showed that there were two strategies that were capable of delivering an absolute return for the entire period. However, when looking deeper into the yearly returns we found that there were another eight strategies that presented a negative return for just one out of the total eleven years. To conclude the research we have placed the strategies in order of precedence that works as a guideline for investing in the Swedish market in bull and bear markets.

An alternative form of investing that has grown steadily during turbulent economic conditions is the decision to invest in Hedge funds. Hedge funds differ from mutual funds by achieving absolute returns, meaning that the funds use complex investment strategies in order to achieve positive returns regardless of the performance of the stock market. The hedge fund market has grown significantly since the mid-1990s in the Nordic countries. Sweden has dominated the hedge fund scene in terms of pure numbers and is also in a dominant position in terms of hedge fund assets under management. Despite this growth, Swedish investors generally have a lack of knowledge about hedge funds as an alternative form of investment, which makes it difficult to assess its advantages and drawbacks. The purpose of the report is to study what hedge fund strategies on the Swedish market are able to generate absolute return over a given period. The purpose is also to compare the performance of the hedge fund strategies with the performance of the Swedish stock market over the given period. The strategies have been compared with the Swedish Stock Market Index SIXRX which reflects the performance of the Stockholm Stock Exchange, adjusted for dividends. The results show that all the hedge fund strategies had a lower volatility and generated a higher return relative to risk compared to the Stockholm Stock Exchange, over the given period. However, only three out of five hedge fund strategies managed to generate absolute return over the total period. / Ett investeringsalternativ som har vuxit sig starkare under turbulenta ekonomiska förhållanden är möjligheten att investera i hedgefonder. Hedgefonder skiljer sig från traditionellt förvaltade fonder genom möjligheten att utvinna s.k. absolut avkastning. Detta innebär att fonden använder komplexa investeringsstrategier i syfte att generera en positiv avkastning oberoende av aktiemarknadens utveckling. Hedgefonder har sedan mitten av 1990- talet vuxit sig allt starkare bland nordiska länder och Sverige är idag det land i Norden som dominerar avseende både antalet hedgefonder och förvaltat hedgefondkapital. Trots denna tillväxt har svenska investerare generellt sett låg kännedom om hedgefonder som placeringsalternativ, vilket gör det svårt att bedöma dess för- och nackdelar. Rapportens syfte är att undersöka vilka hedgefondstrategier på den svenska marknaden som klarar att generera absolut avkastning över en bestämd tidsperiod. Syftet är även att under samma period jämföra hedgefondstrategiernas utveckling med den svenska aktiemarknadens utveckling som helhet. Jämförelsen har gjorts med det svenska aktieindexet SIXRX som speglar Stockholmsbörsens utveckling, justerat för aktieutdelningar. Slutresultatet visar att samtliga hedgefondstrategier hade en lägre volatilitet samt genererade en högre avkastning i förhållande till risk jämfört med Stockholmsbörsen som helhet, under vald tidsperiod. Endast tre av fem strategier klarade dock att generera en absolut avkastning under tidsperiodens samtliga år.

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