The source for the stats: http://www.marketfolly.com/2009/05/barrons-hedge-fund-rankings-2009-top.html Barron's Hedge Fund Top 100 averaged +13.16% in 2008, with a standard deviation of 21.32%. Barclayhedge fund index was -21.63% for the same period. Barron's breaks down their top 100 list by 3 year annualised returns. They rank by individual investment partnerships, so a couple of firms actually have multiple funds on the list. Also, they require a minimum of AUM $300 million and have excluded funds that invest in a single 'sector, country or region'