New York (HedgeCo.Net) – In what seems to be a case of “beating them at their own game”, the average alternative mutual fund returned 4.36% in 2014 while the average hedge fund returned 3.78% over the course of last year according to industry research firm Preqin.

Liquid alternatives are designed to trade like hedge funds, but they provide investors with greater liquidity and lower fees than traditional hedge funds. As a result of these advantages, liquid alts have experienced incredible growth over the last few years with assets growing ten-fold over the last 1o years. The number of offerings has grown tremendously as well with the number of funds jumping from two in 2001 to 348 in 2014. There were 53 new funds launched just last year.

While liquid alts have a lower minimum investment than traditional hedge funds, the accessibility is still limiting. According to the report from Preqin, the average minimum investment in liquid alternative funds is $190,000. That is considerably lower than the average minimum investment in hedge funds which is $1.3 million.

When you consider that HedgeCoVest has a minimum investment of $30,000 and also offers investors hedge fund strategies with lower fees, greater liquidity and greater transparency, it would seem that HedgeCoVest is offering a considerably lower barrier of entry than the average liquid alt.