Web Watch: Navigating the Hedge Fund Maze
Altvest
www.altvest.com
A stepchild of InvestorForce, a dot com geared to institutional investors, Altvest sells screening and analytical tools that help money managers make winning fund choices. The site includes a searchable directory of hedge funds with performance data and manager contact information. A risk-assessment tool evaluates a hedge fund's variable risk without compromising the fund's proprietary strategies or the exact composition of its portfolio.
Hedge Fund Research
www.hfr.com
Hedge Fund Research, formally known as HFR Asset Management, is a research and consulting house specializing in evaluating hedge fund performance. Monthly performance indices summarizing a universe of 1,000 funds are available by annual subscription, but a sample is free. The sample tables, available in PDF format, make interesting reading. They include month-to-month and annual comparisons for the past 11 years for indices covering 33 different hedge fund styles, ranging from convertible arbitrage to distressed securities. Also informative is an accompanying article on the definitions Hedge Fund Research analysts use to define the eight indices HFR covers on a daily basis.
HedgeWorld
www.hedgeworld.com
One of the best industry sites, HedgeWorld includes a great deal of original industry news and features. In addition to news and interviews with experts, the site runs audio interviews with leading fund managers and fund analysts. Multimedia investor presentations are also offered to accredited investors. If after cruising around the site you start thinking you'd like to try the hedge fund game yourself, you might want to take a look at the job board.
Tremont Advisers
www.tremontadvisers.com
Although this site is primarily a brochure for Tremont Advisers' consulting services and American Master's fund of funds products, it is also an informational resource in its own right. Since Tremont Advisers, an OppenheimerFunds unit, is one of the biggest names in hedge fund research it's perhaps not surprising that one of the most valuable areas on the site is the research library, which includes white papers on a variety of hedge fund-related topics. Finally, the TASS Asset Flows report that Tremont releases quarterly provides an interesting overview of where investors' money is going.
The HedgeIndex
www.hedgeindex.com
A joint venture of Tremont and Credit Suisse First Boston, the HedgeIndex is purportedly the industry's only asset-weighted hedge fund index, providing an overview of performance of 2,600 funds — each managing more than $10 million in assets — taken from the database of London-based Tremont TASS. This site offers a nifty interactive look at seven years of past performance of the index and subindices against the S&P 500 and other standard benchmarks. Just roll your mouse over the names of a subindex, such as emerging markets, and see how it's fared over the past seven years. Also available from this site is The Tremont Monthly Strategy Flash, in which Tremont analysts review indices' performance of the prior month and analyze the reasons behind their movements.
Fund-Investors' Hedge Fund Center
www.hedgefundcenter.com
Ever have a teacher who knew a lot, but whose lectures didn't seem to have any particular sequence? Hedge Fund Center is a bit like that. There's a lot of information here for anyone who wants to learn something about hedge funds, from a historical perspective to primers on the securities laws that govern them, but if you're trying to find something in particular you may have to dig. Perhaps the liveliest section of the site is “Debacles,” a collection of cautionary tales culled from various news sources regarding some of the more notorious hedge fund scams and disasters of recent years.
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