If they can charge large amount of fees and still stay competitive, then good on them, right?
The whole point of a hedge fund is for you to let someone else do the worrying. So the market is decidedly inefficient.
it's been many decades since the existence of statistical analysis of hedge funds (as an aggregate) that demonstrates their lack of edge over benchmark passive index funds.
Some hedge funds would still out-perform. Most don't, and those who do tend to charge fees up to their level of edge, and leave only index-benchmark returns for their investors.
If you don't heed this evidence now, you deserve to lose money to these funds.
Except, also, you don't actually ever see the tickets.
Not quite. It also matters how and when returns are generated. Some vol funds make 1–3% a year on average, but they still manage billions because when markets crash, they (presumably) crush it — and that’s when investors need them the most