In the article, Cliff Asness discusses the recent tough times quantitative factor-based liquid alts at AQR have had. Every time any of their strategies go through tough periods, they take a step back and consider specific hypotheses as to whether the recent returns are a harbinger of the future. They have looked very hard with open minds and found no hypothesis that holds water other than a rare, but nowhere near unheard of, bad period for what they believe is a good process. AQR reviews the original case for the idea of adding liquid alts, specifically the liquid alts they favor that are based on a gigantic amount of evidence and economic common sense and that are truly “alt” (meaning very low correlation to traditional assets). They discuss the irony that tough times like these are likely the precise reason why these strategies aren’t arbitraged away and remain viable. The case for some liquid alts remains as strong as ever, especially as compared to the current, quite expensive levels of traditional stock and bond markets.