Hedge Fund Technology

The first directory of hedge fund information was published in 1990 by Antoine Bernheim. Other paper directories followed, and while it was an improvement over the existing methods for gathering hedge fund data, they still proved unwieldy, lacking any kind of apparatus for methodical hedge fund searches. Initial attempts to analyze hedge fund data often involved numerous spreadsheets and complex calculations. Since the rise of the PC, more comprehensive platforms which are capable of utilizing input from multiple commercial databases have been developed. Single-database analysis via the internet is also now available.
The electronic data market has grown exponentially since 1997. There are currently 12 major hedge fund databases available (listed below) some with downloadable analytic packages. Although generally assumed to overlap substantially, there are still unique funds listed on each individual database. It’s normal for approximately 26% of hedge fund investors subscribe to two or more databases. By simply purchasing one or more of these databases investors obtain instant access to thousands of funds, full statistical and qualitative searches, sophisticated portfolio construction and asset allocation, peer and style analysis, simulations and more.