As noted in a December 31, 2015 article in The Wall Street Journal (“The Year the Hedge-Fund Model Stalled on Main Street”), more “liquid alternative” mutual funds closed in 2015 than in any year on record, according to research firm Morningstar Inc., due, in significant part, to increased market volatility.
In all, according to Morningstar, 31 liquid-alternative funds closed in 2015, up from 22 a year earlier, as inflows dwindled and performance weakened.
The results show that enthusiasm is fading for what had emerged in recent years as one of the hottest products in asset management – funds that combine hedge-fund strategies like shorting stock with the daily liquidity of mutual funds.
Assets in liquid-alternative funds grew to $310.33 billion at the end of 2014 from $124.44 billion at the end of 2010. But the inflows have slowed as performance faltered in 2015 – in fact, it is estimated, according to the WSJ article, that just $85.1 million flowed into liquid-alternative funds in 2015.
The host of funds liquidated this past year included strategies run by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Guggenheim Partners LLC and Whitebox Advisors LLC. The closed funds were a range of unconstrained bond funds; managed future funds, which bet on futures contracts in a number of markets; and equity funds that bet on stocks rising and falling – are of which tend to have highly concentrated bets that expose investors to riskier assets than typical mutual funds do.
If you are an individual or institutional investor who has any concerns about your investment in any liquid alternative fund, please contact us for a no-cost and no-obligation evaluation of your specific facts and circumstances. You may have a viable claim for recovery of your investment losses by filing an individual securities arbitration claim with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).