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Hedge Fund

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A hedge fund
usually refers to a lightly regulated private investment fund which is sometimes characterized by unconventional strategies like those other than investing for a long term only in bonds, equities or money markets. These types of funds are primarily organized as limited partnerships, and previously were often simply referred to as 'limited partnerships' and were grouped with other similar partnerships such as those that invested in oil development.

The coinage of the term hedge fund dates back to the first such fund founded by Alfred Winslow Jones in the year 1949. Jones' innovation was to sell short some stocks while buying others, therefore some of the market risk was 'hedged'. While most of today's hedge funds still trade in stocks that are both long and short, many do not trade stocks at all. For the United States based managers and investors, hedge funds are simply structured as are limited partnerships or limited liability companies. While the hedge fund manager is the general partner or manager, the investors are the limited partners or members respectively. The funds are pooled together in the partnership or company and then the general partner or manager makes all the investment decisions based on the strategy it has outlined to prospective investors in the offering documents.

In return for managing the investors' funds, the hedge fund manager will receive a management fee as well as a performance or incentive fee. The management fee is usually computed as a percentage of assets under management, and the incentive fee is generally computed as a percentage of the fund's profits.

A 'high water mark' may be specified for a hedge fund, under which the manager does not receive incentive fees unless the value of the fund exceeds the highest value it has achieved. This feature though intended to encourage fund managers to recoup losses, is sometimes viewed by critics as encouraging non-performing funds to close, to the detriment of investors. The fee structures of hedge funds vary, however the annual management fee is normally 20% of the profits of the fund and in addition to this, 2% of assets under management.