AQR Capital Management, one of the first hedge fund companies to launch a line of mutual funds, will launch the AQR Managed Futures Strategy Fund Wednesday, its seventh mutual fund. It has an expense of 150 basis points, as stated in an SEC filing.

The new fund will track the Barclay CTA Index, which follows managed futures. Last year, the index was up about one percent; however, in 2008, it experienced a growth of 14 percent.

AQR's mutual fund business has surpassed the $1 billion AUM milestone, doing so in less than a year, according to The Wall Street Journal. The firm's success may mean more competition for traditional mutual fund companies, as more hedge fund firms enter the market space.

Hedge fund Rady Asset Management launched its Rady Opportunistic Value Fund in October. In June, Bull Path Capital Management debuted the Bull Path Long Short Fund. Legg Mason's fund-of-hedge-funds business Permal Group launched the Legg Mason Permal Tactical Allocation Fund in April.

The trend was in part spurred by a $155 billion outflow in hedge fund assets in 2008. Just a year later, the number of hedge fund-like like mutual funds jumped from 14 to 26, the WSJ reported. 

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