The fund industry is undergoing a significant transformation driven by technology and social media, allowing individuals greater access to market trading, which has diminished trust in professional investors. The rise of social media has forced hedge funds to adapt their marketing strategies, with platforms like LinkedIn becoming vital for visibility and engagement. Key trends include increased peer-to-peer investment, the emergence of digital currencies, and the necessity for hedge funds to innovate like startups in a technologically advanced landscape.

1. FUTURE OF FUNDS
How Technology and Social Media are Disrupting
and Opening new Opportunities for the Fund
Industry
Dinis Guarda
CEO and Founder HedgeThink.com IntelligentHQ.com ForexThink.com

2. “In short, software is eating the world. (...)
we are in the middle of a dramatic and broad
technological and economic shift in which
software companies are poised to take over
large swathes of the economy.”
Marc Andreessen, WSJ

3. “The financial services industry has been visibly
transformed by software over the last 30 years.
Practically every financial transaction, from
someone buying a cup of coffee to someone
trading a trillion dollars of credit default
derivatives, is done in software. And many of the
leading innovators in financial services are
software companies (…).”
Marc Andreesen, WSJ

4. Every individual =
Media + Financial “Company”
Every Business =
Media Publishing + Financial
Innovation Company!

5. I want to trade / invest
trader / investor

7. “(…) the world lacks enough leaders who understand the
potential for new, technology-driven solutions for global
problems. (…) But even there, an understanding of tech’s
potential is disturbingly uneven. Some companies thrive by
embracing new methods of marketing, managing,
developing products, and engaging with society.”
David Kirkpatrick, Forbes

8. Perhaps the biggest change that online
trading technology has brought about is to
democratise access to the markets, allowing
individuals to make their own trades without
the costs and time lag that were associated
with the old way of doing this

9. Produces
premium
content
that
bridges
The funds industry, are facing a new world
where investors now have the option of
placing their own trades rather than trusting
in the performance of professional investors
– a trust that has been eroded somewhat in
the wake of the financial crisis of 2008.

10. Produces
premium
content
that
bridges
The rapid evolution of trading platforms has also
provided new technologies for professional traders, too,
and this process has also provided new alternatives in
terms of liquidity solutions and ways to connect with the
markets – in particular, high-end protocols such as DMA
(Direct Market Access) and STP (Straight Through
Processing).

11. When social media first came along, it was strongly
resisted by the financial services industry, and
particularly the traditionally ultra-secretive world of
hedge funds. The ideals of transparency and open
sharing of information that it promoted seemed to be
anathema to the behind-closed-doors world of
alternative investments.

12. The ‘Damascus moment’ with social media came with the
so-called ‘hack crash’ of April 2013, when a hoax tweet
coming from the Associated Press Twitter account
claimed that there had been an explosion at the White
House.
Markets went into a tailspin, with billions of dollars being
wiped off the Dow Jones index, only for the markets to
recover only a few minutes later when the tweet was
revealed as a hoax, perpetrated by hackers. Nonetheless,
the damage was done, and traders realised that they
could no longer afford to ignore social media.

13. A 2014 study by Agecroft Partners has identified trends
in the increased use of social media by hedge funds to
enhance their marketing campaigns.
The main network, from a hedge fund perspective, is
LinkedIn, used by approximately 90 per cent of the
hedge funds that have more than USD100 million in
assets under management.
This followed, somewhat distantly, by Twitter.

14. 1. 61% of alternative funds with less than $100 million
AUM have no marketing, PR, content or PR in place.
2. As the Hedge Fund industry grows and creates more
footprint its brands need increased visibility. It is
fundamental to create both an asset for their
business and marketing efforts and a platform with
a profile of digital content / social media, that can
augment their business and audience reach.
3. There is as well a need to create platforms to
support professionals working with Hedge Funds,
and alternative funds.
4. They need to work as startups in this new world of
technology and social media

17. 10 Trends to look:
1. Peer to peer investment, trading and funding are going
to be more powerful for Hedge Funds and the
Investment industry;
2. Retail Vs. Institutional investment / trading
communities;
3. Proliferation of trading and investing niche influence
communities;
4. The advent of digital currencies and global software
money;
5. Social Media disruption, platforms and social
technologies;

18. 10 Trends to look:
1. Increase of mobile and App platforms adapted with
local, regional, national context and technologies;
2. Technical digital semantic platforms based in interest
sentiment and algorithms for investors and traders;
3. The way we share value associated with the concept of
how (big) data and offshore, open government
regulations;
4. The way open data and innovation are transforming
countries, emergent markets, laws and business
strategies;
5. The idea of thought leadership groups supporting each
other and creating premium digital organisations,
cities.

19. Thank you
Dinis Guarda
@dinisguarda
HedgeThink.com