.Most derivatives are owned by firms, not by individual investors. The custom-designed swaps market, which at least by notional amount accounts for two-thirds of all derivatives outstanding,24 is limited to banks, substantial corporations, and very large institutional investors. But why are corporations and large investment funds hedging? Investors are diversified and effectively risk-neutral (something that the derivatives market ensures) and do not gain from hedging at the firm level-not unless the Modigliani-Miller irrelevance theorem has been repealed in recent years.