- "A hedge fund is an actively managed investment fund"--Jaeger, Robert. A. (2003) Mcgraw Hill, All About Hedge Funds
- " "The term 'hedge fund' is used to describe a wide variety of institutional investors employing a diverse set of investment strategies. Although there is no formal definition of 'hedge fund,' hedge funds are largely defined by what they are not and by the regulations to which they are not subject. As a general matter, the term 'hedge fund' refers to unregistered, private investment partnerships for wealthy sophisticated investors (both natural persons and institutions) that use some form of leverage to carry out their investment strategies."----BRANDON BECKER AND COLLEEN DOHERTY-MINICOZZI, HEDGE FUNDS IN GLOBAL FINANCIAL MARKETS 3 (2000)."--
- Hedge funds seek to provide higher than average returns to their investors by utilizing a diverse range of markets, investment vehicles and strategies. [paraphrased]-----The Secretary of the Treasury (2002) Securities and Exchange Commission, A Report To Congress re:. 356(c) USA Patriot Act 2001
- "The term 'hedge fund' was in use as early as the 1960s to describe a new speculative investment vehicle that used sophisticated hedging and arbitrage techniques in the corporate equities market. In the late 1960s, former Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hugh Owens described 'hedge funds' as 'private investment partnerships which employ the investment techniques of leveraging and hedging.' In the 1970s and 1980s, the activities of similar types of funds broadened into a range of financial instruments and activities .… The term 'hedge fund' does not have a precise definition, but it has been used to refer generally to a cadre of private investment partnerships that are engaged in active trading and arbitrage of a range of different securities and commodities."--DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM, JOINT REPORT ON THE GOVERNMENT SECURITIES MARKET, at B-64 (1992) (citing HUGH OWENS, SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSIONER, A REGULATOR LOOKS AT SOME UNREGULATED INVESTMENT COMPANIES: THE EXOTIC FUNDS, REMARKS BEFORE THE NORTH AMERICAN SECURITIES ADMINISTRATORS ASSOCIATION (Oct. 21, 1969)).
- "'Hedge fund' is a general, non-legal term used to describe private, unregistered investment pools that traditionally have been limited to sophisticated, wealthy investors. Hedge funds are not mutual funds and, as such, are not subject to the numerous regulations that apply to mutual funds for the protection of investors - including regulations requiring a certain degree of liquidity, regulations requiring that mutual fund shares be redeemable at any time, regulations protecting against conflicts of interest, regulations to assure fairness in the pricing of fund shares, disclosure regulations, regulations limiting the use of leverage, and more."--SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, INVEST WISELY: AN INTRODUCTION TO MUTUAL FUNDS, available at http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/inwsmf.htm.
- " "There is no precise definition of the term 'hedge fund,' and one will not be found in the federal or state securities laws. The term was first used to describe private investment funds that combine both long and short equity positions within a single leveraged portfolio. It is generally believed that the first such fund to employ this approach was an investment partnership organized in 1949 by Alfred Winslow Jones .… Hedge funds are no longer defined by the strategy they pursue. While a number of today's funds pursue the hedged equity strategy of Jones, numerous different investment styles are embraced by hedge funds .… Hedge funds are defined more by their form of organization and manner of operation than by the substance of their financial strategies."--Scott J. Lederman, Hedge Funds, in FINANCIAL PRODUCT FUNDAMENTALS: A GUIDE FOR LAWYERS 11-3, 11-4, 11-5 (Clifford E. Kirsch ed., 2000).
Consumer web sites
NOTE: we can find stronger sources than the one's below, but these are valuable in showing us how to word our lead in a way that is easy for the reader to understand. Its OK to use text books as citations but the prose in the article should be in simple, easy to understand language and terms-- — Keithbob • Talk • 17:57, 10 January 2013 (UTC)
- "An aggressively managed portfolio of investments that uses advanced investment strategies such as leveraged, long, short and derivative positions in both domestic and international markets with the goal of generating high returns (either in an absolute sense or over a specified market benchmark)." [ http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hedgefund.asp#ixzz2HazntiF6 Investopedia]
- "Hedge funds are privately-owned companies that pool investors' dollars and reinvest them into all kinds of complicated financial instruments. Their goal is to outperform the market."--- About.com
- "A fund, usually used by wealthy individuals and institutions, which is allowed to use aggressive strategies that are unavailable to mutual funds, including selling short, leverage, program trading, swaps, arbitrage, and derivatives. Hedge funds are exempt from many of the rules and regulations governing other mutual funds, which allows them to accomplish aggressive investing goals. They are restricted by law to no more than 100 investors per fund, and as a result most hedge funds set extremely high minimum investment amounts, ranging anywhere from $250,000 to over $1 million." -- Investor Words.com