A Perfect Storm: Here's Why Long / Short Hedge Funds Are Getting Hammered

Hedge fund alpha? What Alpha? Clearly not in long / short hedge funds in January and February.

A Credit Suisse report this morning noted an odd feat: The underperformance of the top 50 longs and shorts set a three year record in futility. Both long and short positions are under-performing in February, the report noted, which hasn’t happened since January 2013.

As stock market rally approached, Long / Short hedge fund managers reduced net long exposure

The fact that both long and short exposure isn’t working among relative value strategies is compounded by high position concentrations and industry rotations that cause popular shorts to rip...