Risk Management for Hedge Funds: Introduction and Overview

Abstract

Although risk management has been a well-ploughed field in financial modeling for over two decades, traditional risk management tools such as mean-variance analysis, beta, and Value-at-Risk do not capture many of the risk exposures of hedge-fund investments. In this article, I review several aspects of risk management that are unique to hedge funds - survivorship bias, dynamic risk analytics, liquidity, and nonlinearities - and provide examples that illustrate their potential importance to hedge-fund managers and investors. I propose a research agenda for developing a new set of risk analytics specifically designed for hedge-fund investments, with the ultimate goal of creating risk transparency while, at the same time, protecting the proprietary nature of hedge-fund investment strategies.

Keywords: Risk management, hedge funds, risk transparency, risk budgeting, fund of funds

JEL Classification: G10, G12, G23, G24