Hedge Funds
This table shows the aggregate assets and liabilities of hedge funds that file Form PF with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Unlike table B.101.f in the regular Financial Accounts publication, which reports assets and liabilities of domestic hedge funds only, this table presents data on all hedge funds that file Form PF, both domestic and foreign. The first part of the table reports the long position for the respective asset categories, with derivative exposure being excluded. The second part of the table reports the liability items, which detail the source of borrowing. A memo item reports total long derivative exposure.
Historical Data
Hedge Funds’ Balance Sheet: CSV | Data Dictionary
Documentation
Hedge funds are private funds that pool investors’ money and invest in a wide range of assets. Private funds are excluded from the definition of investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 by section 3(c)(1) or 3(c)(7) of that Act, and are therefore not subject to some regulations intended to protect investors. As a result, hedge funds are not included in the mutual fund sectors of the Financial Accounts. Hedge funds typically require a high minimum investment and are only open to accredited investors, such as wealthy individuals and institutional investors, for example, pension funds and insurance companies. Hedge funds typically have more flexible investment strategies than mutual funds and often employ leverage. Hedge funds hold a wide variety of asset types which can include derivatives, currencies, and real estate, in addition to equities and fixed income instruments. Investors in hedge funds can face limitations on redemptions of shares, which differs from the daily redemption requirements of mutual funds.
Hedge funds must file Form PF if they have investment advisors that are registered or are required to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), manage one or more private funds, and have at least $150 million in private fund assets under management. Smaller hedge funds file Form PF annually while qualifying hedge funds - those with at least $500 million in assets under management - must file quarterly and report more detail on their assets and liabilities. Commodity pools that elect to file Form PF as hedge funds are included.
Different methodological choices and revisions to Form PF filings can lead to small differences between the hedge funds’ aggregate balance sheet presented here and the SEC’s private fund statistics. The technical Q&A of the Financial Accounts provides more detail on how the hedge fund balance sheet is estimated. The methodology used to estimate the split of the gross asset value on different instruments includes information from Question 26 and 30 of Form PF.
The hedge funds sector has not been fully incorporated in the regular Financial Accounts publication. Hedge funds domiciled abroad are included in the rest of the world sector. In contrast, the assets of domestic hedge funds are usually assigned to the household sector, which is a residual holder on many instruments.
Last Update: March 22,2024
