istockAnalyst.com – Mutual funds and hedge funds are very similar. An investor puts $10,000 into a mutual fund or hedge fund, and the manager uses that $10,000—along with the rest of the fund’s capital—to buy and sell securities.
Though often shrouded in mystery, hedge funds are pretty easy to understand. A mutual fund has to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission; a hedge fund does not. Why? Hedge funds are exempt from registration because they generally operate under one of two exemptions provided by the Investment Company Act of 1940:
- Section 3(c)(1): Hedge funds are exempt from registration if they have "not more than one hundred" investors, all of which are accredited investors; or,
- Section 3(c)(7): Hedge funds are exempt from registration if all of their investors are qualified investors.
So…a hedge fund is little more than an unregistered mutual fund.
