IndexIQ, a developer of index-based alternative investment solutions, has marked the three-year anniversary for its family of hedge fund replication and alternative beta indexes.

Designed to replicate the performance characteristics of sophisticated hedge fund strategies, including global macro, emerging markets, long/short equity, market neutral, event driven, and fixed income arbitrage, the IQ Hedge indexes were originally introduced on 30 March 2007.

The indexes have been calculating live with Standard & Poors since inception and the index values are published daily on Bloomberg.

The hedge fund strategies covered are among the most prevalent in the market, comprising approximately 80 per cent of overall hedge fund assets globally.

"The extraordinary volatility of the financial markets over the past three years has provided a terrific stress test for our indexes," says Adam Patti, chief executive officer at IndexIQ. "Their performance over that period supports our contention that the characteristics of various sophisticated strategies can be mapped and replicated using a passive, index-based approach. This, in turn, has opened the door for the creation of investable index-based products, such as our family of exchange-traded funds and our mutual fund, which allow investors to add these strategies to their portfolios, benefiting from the diversification benefits of hedge funds, without their structural impediments."