Published on November 23, 2018 at 11:41 am by Inan Dogan, PhD in Hedge Funds Globally hedge funds manage more than $3.5 trillion based on our estimates. They employ dozens of different strategies investing in stocks, bonds, derivatives, currencies, commodities, real estate, and exotic securities like insurance claims or electricity. The most well-known hedge fund managers are equity hedge funds. This is also the most transparent corner of the hedge fund universe. The Arab oil embargo in 1973-1974 caused the S&P 500 Index lose 14% in 1973, and 26% in 1974. In 1975 US Congress passed the section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act to increase investors’ confidence in the US equity markets. Section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act requires that institutional money managers who manage at least $100 million must file form 13F and disclose their positions in exchange traded stocks, closed-end funds, ETFs, certain convertible debt instruments, equity options, and warrants. Institutional money managers (hedge funds are part of this group) don’t have to report their cash, fixed income, private, foreign, or over-the-counter equity holdings. Thanks to the 13F filings, we get to see which stocks world’s biggest and most successful hedge funds are buying and selling once every three months. Insider Monkey tracks more than 1000 dead, dormant, or active equity hedge funds. Through November 15th, 694 of equity these hedge funds revealed their stock holdings at the end of September 2018. The total value of equity hedge funds’ long positions at the end of September was $2.17 trillion. This means hedge funds collectively owned about 5% of the outstanding shares of all exchange traded US stocks. This is a very important yardstick to keep in mind when evaluating whether hedge funds are really bullish about a stock. For example, Amazon.com is the third most popular stock among hedge funds. More than 1 out of 5 hedge funds have a position in Amazon shares (21.6% to be more specific). However, hedge funds collectively own only 2.2% of Amazon’s outstanding shares. This means hedge funds are really underweight Amazon shares. https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/...tocks-billionaires-biggest-moves-more-674242/