Hedge Fund
Alternative investment vehicle with a broad strategy mandate, light regulation and access typically limited to qualified investors.
Hedge funds are privately structured investment vehicles. Compared to mutual funds they are significantly less regulated and allowed to deploy a wide range of strategies: long/short equity, global macro, event-driven, merger arbitrage, distressed debt, quantitative trading, convertible arbitrage and many more. They commonly use leverage, derivatives and short selling and are classically compensated under a "2 and 20" model (2% management fee, 20% performance fee).
In the US, hedge fund managers with more than $100 million in reportable US equities must file a quarterly 13F. That makes 13F filings the only reliable public window into an otherwise secretive industry — subject to the well-known limitations (long-only, 45-day lag).
Related terms
Professional market participants such as banks, insurers, pension funds and asset managers that invest with large capital pools.
Catch-all term for capital deployed by especially well-informed or historically successful investors.
Investor that uses sizable equity stakes to actively influence a company's strategy and governance.