Financial Voyeurism – 13F Chasers: why you can't beat fast money

``Paulson & Co. was known a merger arbitrage fund before he was thrust into the limelight. You may recall, John Paulson famously earned $3.7 billion in compensation during the dark days of the financial crisis. As we all now know, the primary source of the fund's performance which earned him that princely compensation was his bets against the housing market and the now infamous ABACUS 2007-AC1 CDO. This may come as a surprise to all of those 13F hawks because there was no sign of this investment in 13F filings for Paulson & Co... There is plenty that the 13F doesn't reveal about the respective manager's strategy. By not disclosing short positions, swaps and fixed income securities, outsiders will not be able to fully ascertain the extent to which a hedge fund is, well, hedged. Further, the 13F does not disclose positions in commodities, currencies, futures or other markets. ''