What is a hedge fund? Specialised

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  Specialised
  
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  Investment vehicle that manages others money
  
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  Clients are generally more institutional or high net worth – accessible to accredited investors – not allowed to advertise
  
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  Fees which are higher on gains (20%)
  
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  They can focus on specific asset classes and geographical areas- e.g. bonds in emerging markets
  
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  General focus on high-risk high-return investments
  
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  Theoretically should be making money regardless of market direction
  
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  FCA regulated in the UK
  
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  In the US they are less regulated than other vehicles
  
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  Often clustered outide of Finanical districts
  
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  Small usually <10 employees
  

Agencement?

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  Agencement- sociomaterial networks
  
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  Taking into account social-rechnological actors that make up the economy
  
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  There is a role that these networks in how we identify
  
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  In Agencement it is the ways that non-human agents act upon people
  

Actor

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  Though not physically present “the back office” has a strong influence on all decision and sale or transaction is sent to them in Mumbai or Dublin
  
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  They don’t make the trades on that site they write down the tarde and is sent off to the investment bank where prime brokers make the trades – this gives the hedge fund a huge advantage as they are able trade through the face of a larger investment bank such as Citi or Goldman
  
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  Security masters
  

How does cognition occur

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  Open plan office so information can be passed along easily
  
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  Screens on the centre so the partner would often stand and talk
  
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  Trader uses other employees around him to remind him of key data “the price of X” or the amount of inflation
  
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  The capacity to make trades lies totally within the interactions of people and technical systems (Multiple site cognition)
  
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  Areas of expertise around him but the trader has final say
  
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  Conversations begin casually but they bounce of each other until they reach a collective decision – usually the according to traders
  
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  Silently sifting through screens for hours on end
  
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  Dissemination of ideas from outside through emails
  
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  Traders are eager to share ideas as it makes it possible to bring throguh
  
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  Cognition is often influenced by emotion support for traders is explicit
  
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  Arbitrage opportunity- spreadsheet is needed to confirm
  
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