I investigate the asymmetric impact of volatility risk on returns of hedge fund strategies. I compare volatility risk exposures to price risk exposures by considering the causation between implied volatility and market returns. I also investigate whether the latest financial crises have caused structural changes in the risk exposures. My results indicate that the volatility risk is related to returns of most hedge fund strategies in a nonlinear way. Further, the use of volatility risk as a factor in hedge fund analysis suffers from asymmetry that is similar to the impact of price risk.