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Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 125 No. 3 2017

Tail risk in hedge funds: A unique view from portfolio holdings

Vikas Agarwal1; Stefan Ruenzi2; Florian Weigert3

1 Georgia State University · 2 University of Mannheim · 3 University of St.Gallen

open access

Abstract

We develop a new systematic tail risk measure for equity-oriented hedge funds to examine the impact of tail risk on fund performance and to identify the sources of tail risk. We find that tail risk affects the cross-sectional variation in fund returns and that investments in both tail-sensitive stocks and options drive tail risk. Moreover, leverage and exposure to funding liquidity shocks are important determinants of tail risk. We find evidence of some funds being able to time tail risk exposure prior to the 2008–2009 financial crisis.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfineco.2017.06.006
Volume
125
Issue
3
Pages
610-636
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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