By Hedge Fund Insight staff The latest Weekly Brief from Lyxor Asset Management shows merger arbitrage as the best performing strategy this month (data up to 17th June). Merger arb is also one of the best performing strategies this year (up 3.3% YTD). The Allergan vs. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International deal was the hottest spot […] Read more »
Decision-making, Emotions and Stress in Financial Markets
By Paul Berry of Human Performance Science Ltd July 3rd 1988. The USS Vincennes, the most advanced missile frigate in the US Navy, was patrolling waters in the Persian Gulf, at the end of the Iran-Iraq war. The crew of the Vincennes were engaged in multiple activities – a battle with an Iranian gunboat, […] Read more »
Mental Preparation For Trading Through The Default Network
By Simon Kerr, Principal of Enhance Consulting Q. Where do you suggest new traders begin? A. (Phantom of the Pits) Get your office ready! Pick out your office where it is comfortable for you to have quiet time and a proper place to relax. Trading is going to be an all out effort if […] Read more »
Attaining Performance Excellence In Hedge Funds
By Paul Berry What could a portfolio manager, a neurosurgeon and a military fighter-pilot possibly have in common? Well, they all work in high-performance professions where competition to enter is intense, with few enjoying success. The jobs are highly demanding, often encroaching into one’s personal life and the consequences of failure are significant. Yet […] Read more »
Protected: Macro Managers Need To Be Foxes
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post. Read more »
Dopamine and Manager Selection
Edited by Simon Kerr, Principal of Enhance Consulting The Brain’s Rapid Responses – Dopamine and the Amygdala The brain has three basic responses in forming expectations of future outcomes. They all involve the dopamine system—a set of neural circuits. When these neurons become aware of something important nearby, they set off a series of […] Read more »
Five Things The Seahawks Super Bowl Win Could Teach A Hedge Fund Manager
By Simon Kerr, Principal of Enhance Consulting 1. The team with the fewest errors is often the winner at the biggest occasions in sport. In this year’s Super Bowl the Denver Broncos turned the ball over five times, conceded a safety from the first snap, and threw two interceptions. It is hard for a […] Read more »
Question Of The Day – New Risk Measurement Methodologies For Hedge Funds?
Q.What are some of the new risk methodologies that are being used? A. There are a lot, and the following may not be exhaustive but essentially I try to focus on creating an holistic risk approach, tail risk management and extreme events, dynamical correlation analysis and shift in correlation regime, dynamic volatility adjustment, macro risks […] Read more »
Investing With The Chimp In Mind
By James O’Loughlin, CEO of JOL Consulting When Conn’s Inc. reported its Q2 numbers on September 5 this year, its stock took an immediate beating: down 25% from a recent intra-day high of $69.32 to an interim low of $51.85. Over the following two weeks it slipped further to $47.65, for a total collapse of […] Read more »
Intuition and Impulse in a Great Trader
By Stephen Bornstein, Principal of Wall Street Counsel What Makes Some Traders Stand Out Can Also Bring Them Down A great trader is one who has the uncanny ability to predict price action based on the behavior of other market participants, particularly other professional traders. Is that skill analytical or intuitive? For the past several […] Read more »