Over all, though, the fund tends to hold on to its stocks.

Initially at least, those funds will tend to be invested in local markets.

The fund tends to perform poorly when the market rises.

His fund tends to focus on blue-chip companies with steady growth.

Also, he said, the fund has $4.5 million in assets, and small funds tend to have larger ratios.

Because these funds tend to fall as interest rates rise, they present significant rate risk, too.

Like the commodity markets they follow, both funds tend to be quite volatile.

On the other hand, small funds tend to become large, perhaps in part because of that very performance advantage.

In contrast, mutual funds tend to focus on a more defined set of opportunities.

And funds with better reports tend to operate more efficiently.