hedge industry isn't going well... source: http://www.barclaygrp.com/indices/ghs/Hedge_Fund_Index.html
That is a voluntary participation database. What's really happening in hedge funds is much worse than those numbers indicate. The HFRX indexes from Hedge Fund Research reflect reality. https://www.hedgefundresearch.com/hfrx_reg/index.php
Yeah -10% YTD isn't much to complain about when the market is off 40%. That is alot better than mutual funds of which a single one isn't up this year. That is ofcourse due to the fact mutual funds aren't allowed to short stocks and hedge funds are. But actual numbers are much worse as ecritt said.
hedgeFunds can short, hedgeFunds can arbitrage if market goes down 40% they have opportunity to gain 40% wo. leverage. -19.6% YTD this an average of all performances imo: why many of them had losses? because markets gone down in a simply and linear way, driving crazy all complex algorithms
The "problem" is that most hedge funds don't hedge. Most are nothing more than "leveraged-long mutual funds".