IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/feddop/2013_002.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Understanding hedge fund alpha using improved replication methodologies

Author

Abstract

In this paper, we estimate alpha for major hedge fund indexes. To set the stage, we examine several alternative methods for replicating Hedge Fund Research Inc. hedge fund indexes. The replication methods include stepwise regression, variations of the lasso shrinkage method, principal component regression, partial least squares regression, and dynamic linear regression. We find that the lasso methods and dynamic regression are superior for generating hedge fund replications and that the performance of the replications corresponds closely to that of the respective actual indexes. Using these superior replications provides us with a solid platform for estimating alpha. We find that at the height of the financial crisis, the alphas computed with our methods were generally negative; in early 2009, when the stock market was rising, alphas were generally positive; and in the recent environment of low volatility and low interest rates, the alphas computed with our methods were generally close to zero and tended to exhibit low volatility.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiaqi Chen & Michael Tindall, 2013. "Understanding hedge fund alpha using improved replication methodologies," Occasional Papers 13-2, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:feddop:2013_002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.dallasfed.org/-/media/documents/banking/occasional/1302.pdf
    File Function: Full Text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:fip:feddop:1 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Jiaqi Chen & Michael Tindall, 2012. "Hedge fund dynamic market sensitivity," Occasional Papers 12-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    3. Vikas Agarwal, 2004. "Risks and Portfolio Decisions Involving Hedge Funds," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 17(1), pages 63-98.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:fip:feddop:2:x:1 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Agarwal, Vikas & Fung, William H. & Loon, Yee Cheng & Naik, Narayan Y., 2004. "Risk and return in convertible arbitrage: Evidence from the convertible bond market," CFR Working Papers 04-03, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    3. Agarwal, Vikas & Kale, Jayant R., 2007. "On the relative performance of multi-strategy and funds of hedge funds," CFR Working Papers 07-11, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    4. Bali, Turan G. & Brown, Stephen J. & Caglayan, Mustafa O., 2019. "Upside potential of hedge funds as a predictor of future performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 212-229.
    5. Bauer, Rob & Cosemans, Mathijs & Eichholtz, Piet, 2009. "Option trading and individual investor performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 731-746, April.
    6. François-Éric Racicot & Raymond Théoret, 2022. "Tracking market and non-traditional sources of risks in procyclical and countercyclical hedge fund strategies under extreme scenarios: a nonlinear VAR approach," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-56, December.
    7. Alexander, Gordon J. & Baptista, Alexandre M., 2006. "Portfolio selection with a drawdown constraint," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 3171-3189, November.
    8. Andrea Beltratti & Claudio Morana, 2006. "Net Inflows and Time-Varying Alphas: The Case of Hedge Funds," ICER Working Papers 30-2006, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    9. Kräussl, Roman & Kräussl, Zsofia & Pollet, Joshua & Rinne, Kalle, 2024. "The performance of marketplace lenders," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    10. Agarwal, Vikas & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naik, Narayan Y., 2009. "Role of managerial incentives and discretion in hedge fund performance," CFR Working Papers 04-04, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    11. V. Bouvatier & S. Rigot, 2013. "Pension funds' allocations to hedge funds: an empirical analysis of US and Canadian defined benefit plans," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(26), pages 3701-3710, September.
    12. Antonio Diez De Los Rios & René Garcia, 2011. "Assessing and valuing the nonlinear structure of hedge fund returns," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 193-212, March.
    13. Harris, Richard D.F. & Mazibas, Murat, 2013. "Dynamic hedge fund portfolio construction: A semi-parametric approach," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 139-149.
    14. Nucera, Federico & Valente, Giorgio, 2013. "Carry trades and the performance of currency hedge funds," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 407-425.
    15. repec:dau:papers:123456789/9296 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Balbás, Beatriz & Balbás, Raquel, 2016. "Must an optimal buy and hold strategy contain any derivative?," IC3JM - Estudios = Working Papers 23912, Instituto Mixto Carlos III - Juan March de Ciencias Sociales (IC3JM).
    17. Bessler, Wolfgang & Drobetz, Wolfgang & Henn Overbeck, Jacqueline, 2005. "Hedge Funds: Die Königsdisziplin" der Kapitalanlage," Working papers 2005/04, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    18. Stephen J. Brown & William N. Goetzmann & Bing Liang, 2005. "Fees On Fees In Funds Of Funds," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: H Gifford Fong (ed.), The World Of Hedge Funds Characteristics and Analysis, chapter 7, pages 141-160, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    19. Alexander Berglund & Massimo Guidolin & Manuela Pedio, 2020. "Monetary policy after the crisis: A threat to hedge funds' alphas?," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 219-238, May.
    20. Massa, Massimo & Jiao, Yawen, 2015. "Short Selling Meets Hedge Fund 13F: An Anatomy of Informed Demand," CEPR Discussion Papers 10471, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    21. Ben Ameur, Hachmi & Ftiti, Zied & Louhichi, Waël & Yousfi, Mohamed, 2024. "Do green investments improve portfolio diversification? Evidence from mean conditional value-at-risk optimization," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    22. Coën, Alain & Hübner, Georges, 2009. "Risk and performance estimation in hedge funds revisited: Evidence from errors in variables," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 112-125, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Regression analysis;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fip:feddop:2013_002. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Amy Chapman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbdaus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.