Citigroup recently publicized a 31-page guide for hedge fund start-ups, which lists five key points in getting a fund up and running.

“The Citi Prime Finance Hedge Fund Start-Up Guide is being published at a time we believe represents a new inflection point in the evolution of the industry and the emergence of a new model for managing a hedge fund,” the paper says.

“In our view, the infrastructure and software choices enjoyed by a manager I today’s environment deliver a ‘virtual set’ or services and products that we are describing internally and to our clients as ‘Hedge Fund 3.0’.”

The guide covers structure and control; infrastructure (including real estate, computer system setup, build-out and integration testing); service providers, organization and marketing.

“We have designed out Business Advisory services around a Hedge Fund Maturity Model that identifies how firms change over time as their AUM (assets under management) grows and their global reach expands,” the guide explains. “Just as we helped you navigate the challenges of this start-up phase, we have industry insights, key industry benchmarks, and practical hedge fund templates that will help you remain at the forefront of your peers.”

“Volatility has been fierce,” explained Andres Parrillo of Newport Capital Advisers Inc. “Hedge funds are getting a bit of whipsaw. They really are concerned about the resolution of this impasse in Europe.”

Hedge fund managers are currently under stress from the Eurozone crisis and the spreading debt, grappling with market volatility and increased correlation in asset classes. Some of the biggest managers in the industry have seen dramatic plunges in the last quarter, including John Paulson, who manages $28 billion. Paulson lost 46% through November, and is considered the sixth-largest manager in the industry.

The bank invested the money in Citi-advised” funds, and sold $1.1 billion in separate hedge fund and private equity assets as well. Regulators are now drafting the ‘Volcker Rule’, which works to limit banks from making bets with shareholder assets.

“The $800 million of purchases primarily relate to funding of previously committed investments in Citi’s private-equity and hedge funds, which are more than offset by divestitures and liquidations,” explained Danielle Romero-Apsilos, spokeswoman for Citigroup. “We continue to make significant progress toward meeting the requirement s of the Volvker Funds portion if the new financial bill.”

According to Emma Sugarman of BNP Paribas SA, “There was a broad rally in the market, which led to positive performance. She added that “De-risking in September and raising cash levels meant a lot of people didn’t participate as fully in the rally as they might have.”

The MSCI All-Country World Index of global stocks increased 10% in October as a result of Germany and France’s promise to support European banks and enlarge the rescue fund.

Multistrategy hedge funds increased 0.1% in October, but declined 1.2% this year. Macro funds rose 1.7% last month, but fell 2.3% throughout the year. Long-short equity funds gained 3.6% in October and also fell 2.3% this year.

The NBA player reportedly invested hundreds of thousands of dollars with Audrey C. Hicks, a guest at the Kardashian-Humphries wedding this summer. At the time, Hicks was known as a Boston-area asset manager.

Hicks has been accused of falsely representing both himself and his hedge fund, Locust Offshore Fund Ltd., by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC has revealed that Hicks lied about his degrees from Harvard, previous experience in the field, and the current worth of his hedge fund.

According to David P. Bergers, director of the SEC’s Boston Regional Office, “Hicks lied to investors about virtually every aspect of his fictitious hedge fund. This brazen web of lies to investors constituted an outright fraud.”

Hicks was arrested this past Friday in Toronto, while trying to flee to Switzerland. Humphries is now working with law enforcement in an effort to regain his invested money.

Every year, twelve contenders don boxing gloves for the first time in their lives, to raise money for charity. Men and women alike began their training in July, in hopes of standing their ground in the ring, in front of hundreds of spectators (clad mainly in suits and neckties). The fights’ judges and refs were Hong Kong policemen affiliated with one of the primary charities.

“It’s a physical challenge,” said Neil “Hands of Steel” Bullock of Sterling Search. “It’s a mental challenge, it’s really is an ultimate challenge, to be honest.” Bullock was named best fighter of the night.

Tricia “The Bull” Yap from PricewaterhouseCoopers won her fight in the women’s ring, and also lost 3.6 lbs for her upcoming wedding during her training. “It’s been five months of no drinking, five months of no social life- just training six to eight times a week. I’m obviously happy but I’m relieved I can get some semblance of a social life back,” she said.

Fight Night 2011 raised around $129,000 for several charities.

The Forward Curve

According to SCM Manager Steven Michael, FCR returned 0.3% in its first month, in spite of today’s inconsistent market conditions. The strategy focuses on investing in sectors such as energy, grains, metals, softs and livestock, as well as other markets, in an effort to utilize reversions to equilibrium of the forward curve.

Massive Flows of Capital

Michael said: “According to the CFTF (U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission), as of July 29^th, 2011, there was in excess of $180 billion in net long index commodities positions across 21 markets. Also, we believe that there is more than $100 billion managed by CTAs, and an additional $100 billion in commodities Exchange Traded Funds.

“Much of this total investment is held in nearby of front-month contracts. As these contracts near their expiration, non-commercial investors must exit their positions in order to avoid taking or making delivery of the physical commodities. This results in massive flows of capital. Most often, these large flows of capital do not exit the market, but rather shift to new positions farther along the cruve in order to maintain their overall (long or short) directional interests.”

A guest said “What you are both doing together to alleviate the suffering of children who have lost family members, and bereaved families who have experienced the tragedy of losing a child, is beyond praise.”

The Duke of Cambridge was named a patron of 100WHF last year, and aims to raise funds for numerous charities. The fund has branches around the world, and has raised millions of dollars in support of women’s health, education and mentoring.

Prince William wrote “It is a privilege for me to be Patron of this exciting endeavor.”

Anne Popkin, chairwoman of 100WHF’s global board, flew to London from San Francisco for this month’s gala. She said: “It is wonderful to raise such an amount. The reason we work so well with His Royal Highness is our aims and his aims are the same.”

Alexander Mearns, CEO of Eurekahedge, explained:  “With the current volatility in the markets there is increased demand for more manageable and predictable return streams. The Japanese pension fund industry is currently reported to have almost $100 billion invested in alternatives and inparticular is undertaking a great deal of research into this area.

“The absolute return fund industry is now back at $2 trillion and while it is much smaller than the $30 trillion mutual fund/retail fund industry it has far better annualized returns, less volatility and is growing at a faster rate. In tandem with this growth, we are seeing a strong demand from investors for liquid index linked products such as replication indices and ETFs. In addition, we expect the Mizuho-Eurekahedge Index to be the leading hedge fund index benchmark for investors worldwide.”

Earlier this week, Regal Funds was named Australia’s hedge fund of the year by the Alternative Investment Management Association for its Tasman Market Neutral Fund which bought mining shares and sold stocks of manufacturing, retail and mining companies. It returned 27.4 percent since the beginning of this year.

“Half of the market is in a bear market and half is in a bull market, and we’ve been able to take advantage of those trends,” chief investment officer Philip King said. A former analyst, King explained that “There are certain parts of the Australian economy, namely manufacturing, retailing, media that are very much almost in recession, and there are other parts, mainly mining and mining services, that are booming.”