For Allocators
Benchmark what you own against what you could own.
Most hedge fund categories are self-described. A fund that underperforms its stated peer group can describe itself into a different one. PivotalPath classifies by rule, applied identically across the whole universe, and the classification does not move because performance moved.
Composite against the S&P 500 over 113 falling months, as of August 2026.
Nothing is measurable in isolation
Every performance question requires context. Measured against zero, most managers look good. Measured against the market, you learn about their equity exposure. Measured against the right cohort, you learn whether the return came from skill or from exposure, whether the drawdown was particular or general, and whether the manager is differentiated or simply typical of a strategy having a good year.
Choosing the wrong cohort does not produce a weaker answer. It produces a confident answer to the wrong question.
PivotalPath provides a robust strategy classification that turns performance analysis into allocation insight. The classification is rule-based: a fund lands in a peer group because of what it does, assessed consistently across the whole universe, and it does not move because performance moved.
The same discipline applies to history. Because the indices are point-in-time, a peer group’s past performance includes the funds that closed, so a manager who beat the median in 2022 beat the median that actually existed in 2022.
PivotalPath has built an excellent mouse trap to evaluate our hedge fund portfolio and individual managers in the right context.
Tim Barrett · Chief Investment Officer, Texas Tech University System
What the dispersion means for an allocation
A single hedge fund allocation decision is really several. Correlation to the S&P 500 ranges from -0.26 to 0.85 across the published indices; downside capture from -27.1% to 35.0%.
In 2022 the S&P 500 fell 18.1% and the Composite fell 1.1%. In 2008 the market fell 37.0% and the Composite fell 10.5%. That is what a low-beta, wide-dispersion asset class does, and it is why the strategy mix matters more than the asset-class decision.
The allocator platform
What you get — Explore
One coverage layer — managers, funds and indices, point-in-time — feeding three capabilities, with research on top.
Coverage
The research notes come from calls PivotalPath conducts with managers on behalf of allocators.
Researchers at the Institute for Private Capital examined 649 managers running at least $1bn. 125 of them are covered by PivotalPath and by no commercial database. Those funds generated 6.9% annualised alpha, on a seven-factor model, against 2.6% for funds visible only through commercial databases.
Brown, Lundblad & Volckmann, “What Do We Know About Institutional-Quality Hedge Funds?”, Institute for Private Capital, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, April 2025.
01 · Diligence
- Manager screening tools
- Contextual performance analysis
- Committee-ready reports
02 · Benchmark
- Custom benchmarks to your mandate
- Robust classification across every strategy
- Complete performance analytics
03 · Portfolio
- Dynamic portfolio construction
- Regime-aware analysis
- Scenario and stress tests
Used by allocators representing $650B+ in hedge fund investments.
Data-driven due diligence.