You have been spending your waking hours at your computer buying and selling stock through your on line broker. You have developed your own trading strategy and you have been successfully trading through your broker. After much deliberation, you decide that you are now ready to start up your hedge fund. However, the start up hedge fund manager needs to consider more than just the cost of execution when selecting a broker. One common error is using the broker that only provides retail customer “settlement date” statements and does not provide statements of realized and unrealized gains and losses. Although “settlement date” statements are fine for the individual retail customer managing his or her own account, it is an impediment to the professional hedge fund manager. The start up hedge fund manager quickly learns that for tax purposes and to properly account and report to investors, not providing monthly statements realized and unrealized gains and losses; and, providing only “settlement date” information is insufficient.