We examine the trading skill of hedge funds using transaction-level data. After accounting for trading commissions, we find no evidence that the trades of the average hedge fund outperform across holding periods ranging from one month to one year. However, bootstrap simulations indicate that the...

We find hedge funds that have higher return covariation with a disaster concern index, which we construct using out-of-the-money puts on sector indices, earn significantly higher returns. These funds have better skills in exploiting the market's ex ante rare disaster concerns (SED) that are not...

Using a novel measure of own-investor secrecy, we find that non-disclosure to investors, unlike non-disclosure to public, does not signal hedge fund skill. Own-investor secretive funds do not significantly outperform transparent funds through an up market, and they significantly underperform...

This paper explores the gamma trading, timing and managerial skills of individual hedge funds across categories. We replicate the non-linear payoffs of hedge funds with traded options, with the option features being endogenously defined in our replication model. On top of providing a flexible...