Do Market Timing Hedge Funds Time the Market?

47 Pages Posted: 18 Mar 2005 Last revised: 19 Apr 2010

See all articles by Yong Chen

Yong Chen

Texas A&M University - Department of Finance

Bing Liang

University of Massachusetts Amherst - Department of Finance

Date Written: June 12, 2006

Abstract

This paper examines whether self-described market timing hedge funds have the ability to time the U.S. equity market. We propose a new measure for timing return and volatility jointly that relates fund returns to the squared Sharpe ratio of the market portfolio. Using a sample of 221 market timing funds during 1994-2005, we find evidence of timing ability at both the aggregate and fund levels. Timing ability appears relatively strong in bear and volatile market conditions. Our findings are robust to other explanations, including public information-based strategies, options trading, and illiquid holdings. Bootstrap analysis shows that the evidence is unlikely to be attributed to luck.

Keywords: Hedge funds, Return timing, Volatility timing, Bootstrap, Persistence

JEL Classification: G11, G23

Suggested Citation

Chen, Yong and Liang, Bing, Do Market Timing Hedge Funds Time the Market? (June 12, 2006). Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis (JFQA), Vol. 42, No. 4, 2007, EFA 2005 Moscow Meetings, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=676110

Yong Chen

Texas A&M University - Department of Finance ( email )

360 Wehner Building
College Station, TX 77843-4218
United States

HOME PAGE: http://mays.tamu.edu/directory/yong-chen

Bing Liang (Contact Author)

University of Massachusetts Amherst - Department of Finance ( email )

Amherst, MA 01003
United States

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