In 2017, hedge funds returned 8.5%, trailing the S&P 500 Index's gain of 21.8%. : 2017 did not seem to be the year of the hedge fund. An industry that many investors saw as stale and overpriced largely failed to reinvent itself, and hefty fees combined with lackluster returns drove money to other areas. In that sense, 2017 was somewhat like 2016 had been for funds overall. Still, hedge funds managed to turn in the best overall performance in four years for 2017, although it was not enough to draw attention from other flashy trends like cryptocurrencies.