Daniel Moser

Hedge Fund Portfolio Tracking: Renaissance Technologies (Jim Simons), Q3 2008

There needs to be a major disclaimer in this article. Some hedge funds that are being tracked are prefectly fine and arguably helpful. Anything related to Renaissance should be looked at for fun with no intentions of gaining any insights from it. I would argue that no insight can be gained looking at Renaissance because they are more than anything a quant shop. As an individual from the outside looking in...you have no idea why they own those securities, how long they have owned them in relation to the filing period, how long they will continue to hold them, etc. For all you know, they are holding certain securities in one fund because it tends to behave a desired way with another fund you have no information on. It is really dangerous to attempt to garner information from a fund that is famous for changing strategies midgame.

The managers at Renaissance are like Gods. They are all extrodinarily intelligent. Renaissance is more like a Think Tank than a hedge fund. They are not ordinary folks. They are Phd in mathematics, physics, and statistics. In conclusion, just take a huge grain of salt from any holdings reports on Renaissance related funds.