Hedge fund
A pooled fund that uses a wide range of strategies to seek returns across varied markets.
Hedge funds pursue returns through strategies that listed funds cannot easily use, such as short selling and leverage. Their place in a portfolio is judged by the diversification and risk-adjusted return they genuinely add.
Hedge funds are a structure, not a strategy, and the label covers everything from the genuinely diversifying to the expensively mediocre. The demanding test for a family is whether a fund adds return or diversification the rest of the portfolio cannot get more cheaply elsewhere.