Yes. You have to pay for insurance. And in terms of performance, you could have totally hedged out a portfolio for under 50bps (often well under) pretty much a

Yes. You have to pay for insurance. And in terms of performance, you could have totally hedged out a portfolio for under 50bps (often well under) pretty much all the way through this market. Universa did this but in a more sophisticated way...afaik, they created a portfolio where you got paid to hedge. If this isn't clear: this is the kind of thing that people look back on and can't believe that it occurred. This is CLO manager in 2005 stuff. Literally incomprehensible. All because people cannot resist strategies that show small gains consistently. Retail investors cannot and won't ever understand that you will underperform, that is what a hedge is for, and that is how you reduce risk and end up with returns that crush the market. If you try to chase returns, you will get owned.