Regional Reports

North American Hedge Funds Infographic January 2022

January 2022 | Eurekahedge


Eurekahedge’s North American hedge funds infographic sums up the industry as at January 2022. Find out more about North American hedge funds assets under management (AUM), asset flows into strategic and regional mandates, strategy returns, fund size and geographic AUM, head office locations and the best and worst performances of the year.

Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds (August 2021)

August 2021 | Eurekahedge


The Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index was up 11.34% year-to-date as of June 2021, driven by the strong performance of the underlying equity market as represented by the MSCI North America Index AC, which gained 14.68% over the same period. Covid-related mobility restrictions in most developed markets continued to be progressively relaxed as vaccination rates rise, providing support to the reopening of their economies. The swift rebound in economic activity led to higher inflation in some countries, most notably in the United States where in June, the US consumer price index increased by 5.4% year-on-year – the sharpest 12-month inflation spike since August 2008.

North American Hedge Funds Infographic August 2021

August 2021 | Eurekahedge


Eurekahedge’s North American hedge funds infographic sums up the industry as at August 2021. Find out more about North American hedge funds assets under management (AUM), asset flows into strategic and regional mandates, strategy returns, fund size and geographic AUM, head office locations and the best and worst performances of the year.

Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds (January 2021)

January 2021 | Eurekahedge


The Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index was up 10.53% year-to-date as of November 2020, driven by the strong performance of the underlying equity market as represented by the MSCI North America IMI, which gained 13.32% over the same period. Supported by the strong performance of the equity market in the region, North American hedge funds quickly recovered from their 10.14% deficit in the first quarter which was their worst quarterly performance since inception due to the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak in the region.

North American Hedge Funds Infographic January 2021

January 2021 | Eurekahedge


Eurekahedge’s North American hedge funds infographic sums up the industry as at January 2021. Find out more about North American hedge funds assets under management (AUM), asset flows into strategic and regional mandates, strategy returns, fund size and geographic AUM, head office locations and the best and worst performances of the year.

Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds (May 2020)

May 2020 | Eurekahedge


The Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index was down 9.61% year-to-date as of March 2020, outperforming the underlying equity market as represented by the MSCI North America IMI, which lost 21.40% over the same period. The severity of the COVID-19 outbreak outside Mainland China has forced government authorities to implement lockdown and social distancing measures, resulting in a massive sell-off in the global equity market.

North American Hedge Funds Infographic May 2020

May 2020 | Eurekahedge


Eurekahedge’s North American hedge funds infographic sums up the industry as at May 2020. Find out more about North American hedge funds assets under management (AUM), asset flows into strategic and regional mandates, strategy returns, fund size and geographic AUM, head office locations and the best and worst performances of the year.

2019 Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

October 2019 | Eurekahedge


The Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index was up 5.71% year-to-date as of August 2019, underperforming the underlying equity market as represented by the MSCI North America IMI, which gained 16.47% over the same period. The progress of the US-China trade negotiations combined with the exhibited accommodative stance of the Fed acted as tailwinds for North American hedge fund managers, resulting in Q1 return of 5.22% - the strongest since 2006. The positive developments of the US-China trade talks prompted President Trump to delay the scheduled tariff increase in March, which further uplifted the risk sentiment among investors during the first few months of the year. However, the robust rally in the equity market ended in May, following President Trump’s decision to increase the tariffs imposed on the Chinese imported goods resulting in the breakdown of their trade negotiation. Over the same month, President Trump blacklisted Huawei due to national security concerns. The tech-heavy

North American Hedge Funds Infographic October 2019

October 2019 | Eurekahedge


Eurekahedge’s North American hedge funds infographic sums up the industry as at October 2019. Find out more about North American hedge funds assets under management (AUM), asset flows into strategic and regional mandates, strategy returns, fund size and geographic AUM, head office locations and the best and worst performances of the year.

2018 Overview: Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

March 2019 | Eurekahedge


The Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index was up 3.66% in January 2019, underperforming the region’s equity markets as represented by the MSCI North America IMI which gained 8.51% over the month. North American hedge fund managers ended 2018 down 2.97% as concerns over the US-China trade tension and fed rate hikes weighed on their returns. Going into 2019, fund managers kicked off the year by recording strong gains in January, thanks to the improving optimism over the US-China trade talks. On the other hand, the US Federal Reserve has adopted a patient, wait-and-see stance for their future rate decisions as a response to the muted inflation caused by the sharp decline of oil prices and the risk of global economic slowdown. The dovish tone exhibited by the Fed acted as a tailwind to the US equity markets and pushed the S&P 500 and DJIA by 7.69% and 7.17% higher respectively in January, recovering a sizeable portion of the steep losses they suffered in December last year.

North American Hedge Funds Infographic March 2019

March 2019 | Eurekahedge


Eurekahedge’s North American hedge funds infographic sums up the industry as at March 2019. Find out more about North American hedge funds assets under management (AUM), asset flows into strategic and regional mandates, strategy returns, fund size and geographic AUM, head office locations and the best and worst performances of the year.

2018 Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

October 2018 | Eurekahedge


North American hedge funds were up 3.39% as of August 2018 year-to-date, outperforming their peers focusing on other regions, owing to the robust economy of the United States which was supported by the Trump administration’s tax cut policy. The strong economy led the Federal Reserve to tighten their monetary policy by gradually increasing their short-term interest rates to contain the low unemployment rate, stabilise inflation, and avoid overheating the economy. The rate hikes made the US bond market attractive to investors due to the rising bond yields, causing a massive equity market selloff in early February this year. The North American equity markets have since recovered, boosted by strong corporate earnings season, which saw more than 80% of the large-cap companies comprising the S&P 500 index beating Q2 analyst estimates.

North American Hedge Funds Infographic October 2018

October 2018 | Eurekahedge


Eurekahedge’s North American hedge funds infographic sums up the industry as at October 2018. Find out more about North American hedge funds assets under management (AUM), asset flows into strategic and regional mandates, strategy returns, fund size and geographic AUM, head office locations and the best and worst performances of the year.

2017 Overview: Key Trend in North American Hedge Funds

March 2018 | Eurekahedge


The North American hedge fund industry grew by US$136.4 billion over 2017, owing to the strong performance of hedge fund managers, as indicated by the 8.60% gain posted by the Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index over the year, which is its strongest performance since 2013. Thanks to the strong equity market performance around the globe, hedge funds with high long exposure to equities enjoyed the benefits of the record breaking equity market rallies. Despite falling behind their peers from Latin America and Asia, North American hedge funds kicked off 2018 with a decent performance, gaining 1.54% in January. Long/short equities funds topped the chart among strategic mandates with their 2.04% gain over the first month of 2018.

North American Hedge Funds Infographic March 2018

March 2018 | Eurekahedge


Eurekahedge’s North American hedge funds infographic sums up the industry as at March 2018. Find out more about North American hedge funds assets under management (AUM), asset flows into strategic and regional mandates, strategy returns, fund size and geographic AUM, head office locations and the best and worst performances of the year.

Hedge Fund Performance Commentary

October 2017 | Eurekahedge


Hedge funds were up 0.42% in September while underlying markets, as represented by the MSCI AC World Index (Local), gained 2.17% during the month. September was marked by strong performance in US equities on the back of Trump’s tax reform proposal with the S&P 500 ending the month up 1.93% while the DJIA gained 2.08%.

2017 Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

October 2017 | Eurekahedge


Assets for the North American hedge fund industry grew by US$68.5 billion through 2017 September year-to-date, with the majority of the growth being contributed by a resurgence in investor inflows into the industry. Managers posted performance based gains of US$22.0 billion in 2017, while the Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index was up 3.23% over the same period. Event Driven mandated hedge funds topped the performance table across strategic mandates returning 4.56% in 2017 thus far. Among geographic mandates, fund managers with exposure to Asia Pacific posted the best 2017 year-to-date performance by gaining 13.83%.

North American Hedge Funds Infographic October 2017

October 2017 | Eurekahedge


Eurekahedge’s North American hedge funds infographic sums up the industry as at October 2017. Find out more about North American hedge funds' assets under management (AUM), asset flows into strategic and regional mandates, strategy returns, fund size and geographic AUM, head office locations and the best and worst performances of the year.

2016 Overview: Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

March 2017 | Eurekahedge


Assets for the North American hedge fund industry grew by US$19.1 billion for annual year 2016, with strength led by manager performance as opposed to investor interest. Managers posted performance-based gains of US$34.0 billion in 2016, with the Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index was up 7.77% over the same period, outperforming regional peers. Event driven mandated hedge funds led performance across strategic mandates, up 18.19% in 2016 followed by distressed debt and multi-strategy hedge funds which gained 12.86% and 11.17% respectively.

2016 Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

October 2016 | Eurekahedge


The US$1.49 trillion North American hedge fund industry has been resilient amid challenging market conditions, with the trading environment over the course of the year being a rather exciting albeit nerve-wrecking one so far. The industry’s assets under management (AUM) grew by US$19.1 billion during the year largely on the back of performance-driven gains (US$14.3 billion). Investor inflows were somewhat lacklustre this year with US$4.8 billion of allocations to date, down from inflows of US$40.5 billion over the same period in 2015.

North American Hedge Funds Infographic October 2016

October 2016 | Eurekahedge


Eurekahedge’s North American hedge funds infographic sums up the industry as at October 2016. Find out more about North American hedge funds assets under management (AUM), asset flows into strategic and regional mandates, launches and closures, fund size and geographic AUM, head office locations and the best and worst performances of the year.

2015 Overview: Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

March 2016 | Eurekahedge


The North American hedge fund industry continues to grow despite muted returns in 2015 when a challenging market environment saw underlying managers post sub-zero returns in what was the worst year for managers since the lows of 2008. However, not all was doom and gloom. North American managers running Asia Pacific, broad emerging market and European mandates ended 2015 in the green, while across strategic mandate arbitrage strategies; in particular managers employing volatility based strategies post good returns.

2015 Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

October 2015 | Eurekahedge


The North American hedge fund industry grew by US$54.2 billion as of 2015 year-to-date, on the back of strong investor inflows which account for roughly two-thirds of total asset growth in the region. Despite mixed economic performance in the US during the year, investor inflows stood at US$34.5 billion while performance-driven gains stood at US$19.8 billion year-to-date, bringing the total assets under management (AUM) of the North American hedge fund industry to US$1.48 trillion managed by 5,432 hedge funds as at August 2015.

2014 Overview: Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

March 2015 | Eurekahedge


North American hedge funds recorded excellent growth over the past 13 months despite a slowdown in the pace of expansion since the second half of 2014, raising the region’s share of assets under management (AUM) by another US$93.8 billion to approximately two thirds of the global hedge fund industry. As of January 2015, the total AUM of the North American hedge fund industry is closing in on the US$1.45 trillion mark and stands at US$1.447 trillion managed by a total of 5,267 hedge funds.

2014 Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

October 2014 | Eurekahedge


North American hedge funds continued to record excellent growth for 2014 year-to-date, keeping up with the strong gains seen in 2013 which has raised the region’s share of assets under management (AUM) to approximately two-thirds of the global hedge fund industry. As at August 2014, the total AUM of the North American hedge fund industry has breached the US$1.4 trillion mark to stand at US$1.43 trillion managed by a total of 5,093 hedge funds.

2013 Overview: Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

March 2014 | Eurekahedge


The North American hedge funds industry witnessed robust growth in 2013 with the total assets under management (AUM) breaching past the US$1.3 trillion mark, raising the region’s share of AUM to almost 70% of the global hedge fund industry. As at January 2014, the total AUM of the North American hedge fund industry stands at US$1.35 trillion managed by a total of 5,122 hedge funds.

Canadian Regulators Propose Standard Deviation as the Mandatory Risk Measurement for Canadian Investment Funds

February 2014 | Anick Morin , Eric Lapierre , Rebecca A. Cowdery and Francesca F. Smirnakis, Borden Ladner Gervais


On December 12, 2013, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published CSA Notice 81-324 Proposed CSA Mutual Fund Risk Classification Methodology for Use in Fund Facts. The CSA propose to mandate (or adopt as guidance only) that all Canadian mutual funds use standard deviation as the measurement of risk and for risk classification purposes. Once a fund’s standard deviation has been calculated, the fund manager will be required to slot the fund into one of six standardised risk bands proposed by the CSA for the purposes of the simplified prospectus and Fund Facts disclosure. Notably, the CSA have not published proposed rule amendments – the Notice describes the CSA’s proposed methodology, including its proposals for enhanced disclosure, and is designed to elicit feedback on the proposals in advance of rule-making.

Hedge Fund Managers: Your 2013 Annual Compliance Check-Up – Quick Tips on Doing a Self-Diagnosis

November 2013 | Ronald M. Kosonic and Sarah K. Gardiner, Borden Ladner Gervais


Canada, in keeping with the rest of the world, has seen unprecedented change in the regulation of the financial markets over the past five years – not only in scope and detail, but also in speed of implementation. At the same time, regulators have stepped up their oversight with both broad-based and targeted compliance audits, resulting in the need for financial services participants to place an increasing focus on compliance.

2013 Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

August 2013 | Eurekahedge


The North American hedge funds industry has witnessed robust growth in 2013 with the total assets under management (AUM) breaching the US$1.3 trillion mark for the first time in May, raising the region’s share of global AUM to almost 70%. With strong launch activity since 2009, the total fund population has also reached the highest level on record with the total number of funds standing at 4891.

2012 Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

January 2013 | Eurekahedge


Over the last few years North American hedge funds have delivered a remarkable recovery from the global financial crisis, both in terms of assets under management (AUM) and performance. The industry has stood apart from hedge funds in other regions by attracting the greatest amount of assets since 2008 and also delivering four years of positive returns

2012 Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

August 2012 | Eurekahedge


Amid the uncertainty plaguing global markets and the broader financial industry, North American hedge funds have stood out as one of the few sectors that have witnessed growth and the industry maintains a healthy outlook for the future. Even among the global hedge fund industry North American managers have emerged stronger from the financial crisis of 2008 to 2009 with the number of funds at an all-time high and assets under management (AUM) touching historically high levels.

2011 Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

January 2012 | Eurekahedge


North American hedge funds witnessed another year of strong growth in 2011, despite a flat to slightly negative performance amid unhelpful market conditions. The Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index registered a -1.13% return for the year, however the industry attracted US$55 billion in net positive asset flows from investors.

2011 Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

July 2011 | Eurekahedge


The North American hedge fund industry has witnessed some significant trends since year 2000. At the turn of the millennium, the sector accounted for more than 84% of the global hedge fund industry with US$258 billion in assets managed by 1,815 managers. Over the next eight and a half years, the sector witnessed exponential growth with assets under management peaking in June 2008 at US$1.247 trillion – an increase of nearly 500%. The fund population also increased significantly to cross 4,600 funds over the same period.

2010 Overview: Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

January 2011 | Eurekahedge


The Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index was up 13.33% during 2010 as the region’s hedge funds maintained their winning run. North American managers had posted record returns in 2009, and although 2010 was marked by high volatility and sudden swings in the markets, the funds continued to deliver consistent returns throughout the year. This was the third consecutive year that the region’s hedge funds outperformed those in other developed markets. Managers also attracted significant capital from investors in 2010, gaining US$60.4 billion in net positive asset flows – accounting for most of the US$70.6 billion allocated within the global industry during 2010.

2010 Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

June 2010 | Eurekahedge


After delivering excellent results in 2009, North American hedge funds continued the positive trend through the first few months of 2010. The Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index advanced 4.40% in the January - April 2010 period, carrying on the momentum from last year when the sector delivered the best returns on record by gaining 23.72%.

2009 Overview: Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

January 2010 | Eurekahedge


The Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index, which measures the performance of hedge funds allocating to North American markets, witnessed its best performance on record in 2009, posting gains of 23.45% through the year as strong rallies in the underlying markets across different asset classes worked in favour of the industry. This is a significant outperformance over the global average (19.29%) as well as the European hedge funds, which gained 21.69% during the same time period.

2009 Overview: Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

July 2009 | Eurekahedge


North American hedge funds (NAHFs) have been among the best performing hedge fund managers over the past two years; since the meltdown of the US subprime mortgage markets and spillover of resultant credit crises into other asset classes. The Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Index has returned a healthy 5.2% over the two years since June 2007, while the S&P 500 was down 38.8% over the period.

2009 Overview: Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

January 2009 | Eurekahedge


The Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Database contains data on 3,850 funds, based partly on which, we estimate the current size of the region’s hedge fund industry at 4,670 funds, managing about US$1 trillion in assets. This, despite a decline in both the number of funds and assets through 2008, marks an annualised increase of 6% and 12% in the number of funds and AuM respectively, since end-2003. Figure 1 shows the growth in the region’s hedge fund space over the past decade.

2008 Overview: Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

July 2008 | Eurekahedge


The total size of the North American hedge fund space is estimated at nearly 4,800 funds managing close to US$1.1 trillion in assets1; operating in the world’s most advanced financial markets, these funds account for nearly two-thirds of the US$1.8 trillion parked in hedge funds globally. Historically too, the North American hedge fund universe has been sizeable (refer Figure 1); to put it in context, their combined size in 2,000 is comparable to the current size of the Asian hedge fund space.

Hedge Fund Performance Commentary

December 2007 | Eurekahedge


After two consecutive positive months amid rising risk appetites and rallying markets, hedge funds across the board gave back some of these gains in November, with the composite Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index down 1.6%. A key factor in this market turn was re-emerging concerns over problems in the US housing and subprime markets, as it became apparent that the losses suffered by some of the large global financial firms were far greater than expected. This led to large-scale risk aversion among market participants.

2007 Overview: Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

October 2007 | Eurekahedge


The 2007 edition of the Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Directory is printed with over 1,900 flagship funds and represents the epitome of its online counterpart, which covers 3,2381 hedge funds that currently allocate to and/or are managed out of North America. Together with this and other related information, we estimate the total size of the North American hedge fund space currently at nearly 4,800 funds managing over USD900 billion in assets. Operating in the world’s most advanced financial markets, these funds account for over half of the USD1.7 trillion parked in hedge funds globally.

2006 Overview: Key Trends in North American Hedge Funds

September 2006 | Rajeev Baddepudi, Eurekahedge


Based on the information contained in the 2006 edition of the Eurekahedge North American Hedge Fund Directory and other related information, we currently estimate the total size of the North American hedge fund space at over 4,000 funds managing close to US$840 billion in assets. Operating in the world’s most advanced financial markets, these funds account for over three-fifths of the total assets parked in hedge funds globally. Historically too, the North American hedge fund universe has been sizeable (Figure 1); to put it in context, their size in 1997 is comparable to the current size of the Asian hedge fund space.

Hedge Fund Performance Commentary

December 2005 | Rajeev Baddepudi, Eurekahedge


October turned out to be a poor month for hedge funds across the board. In a marked departure from the positive to spectacular returns seen in the last five months, almost all the Eurekahedge regional indices took a southward turn. The exceptions were Japanese hedge funds (the Eurekahedge Japan Hedge Fund Index was up an impressive 1.7% for the month), and to a much lesser degree, onshore Latin American hedge funds (whose corresponding index was up 0.6% during the same period). The North American and European indices, on the other hand, registered negative returns of 1.3% and 1.8% respectively.

Hedge Fund Performance Commentary

September 2005 | Shashi K. Agarwala, Eurekahedge


Despite an eventful month with terrorist attacks in London, rising oil prices, yuan revaluation and benign US employment figures, hedge funds maintained their good performance across the globe in July following a recovery month in June. European investing hedge funds again came up with the best performance across all markets with the Eurekahedge European All Strategies Hedge Fund Index registering a 2.07% return. North America and Asia ex-Japan and North American markets were the two next best performers in terms of rankings with returns of 1.89% and 1.84% respectively.

Hedge Fund Performance Commentary

August 2005 | Eurekahedge


Hedge fund performance across the globe perked up in June following a mediocre month in May. According to the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Indices, the top three markets were Europe (+1.76%), Japan (+1.49%) and North America (+1.47%). Comparatively, Japan was down 0.17% in May and Europe was up 0.32% over the same period.