By Nell Mackenzie and Carolina Mandl
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Some of the world's biggest hedge funds ended 2024 with comfortable double-digit returns, benefiting from choppy markets, central bank policy changes and a tight U.S. presidential election.
Hedge funds in 2024 had an average return of 10.7% for the year to November, according to PivotalPath, compared with 5.7% for the same period in 2023. However, some portfolio managers posted gains of more than 50% for all of last year.
Light Street Capital's technology long/short fund ended 2024 with a gain of 59.4%. Overall, long/short hedge funds had their best year since 2020, Goldman Sachs said.
Macro (BCBA:) hedge fund Discovery (NASDAQ:) Capital ended 2024 up 52% after gains across equities, currencies, rates and credit, a source familiar with the performance said, with businesses in emerging and developed countries.
Also on the macro side, Bridgewater Associates' flagship Pure Alpha 18% Volatility Fund gained just over 11% through Dec. 27 in 2024, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
British hedge fund Marshall Wace, which manages nearly $71 billion, posted double-digit gains in several of its funds, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
The company, co-founded by British financier Paul Marshall, returned around 14% in its Eureka fund, the source said.
Major U.S. multi-strategy firms also posted double-digit gains.
Cinctive Capital rose 22.8% last year, while Schonfeld's flagship hedge fund Strategic Partners rose 19.7%.
Citadel Wellington's flagship fund returned 15.1%, while Millennium Management returned 15% in 2024, according to people familiar with the results.
Citadela offered clients the option to collect Wellington's profits. Very few clients took up the offer, with redemptions accounting for only about $300 million of the billion-dollar profit.
DE Shaw's two multi-strategy funds posted double-digit returns, including its flagship Composite fund, which gained 18% in 2024, and its more macro-focused Oculus fund, which returned 36% over the same period, its best annual performance ever, another person said close to things.
The results of Millennium and DE Shaw were first reported by the Financial Times and Bloomberg.
Jon Caplis, CEO of hedge fund research firm PivotalPath, said 2024 saw a “resurgence in the multi-strat space” and expects to see more inflows into the strategy.
Last year's gains came as rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve helped push stocks higher, while Donald Trump's decisive victory and the Bank of Japan's rate hike in the presidential election were other catalysts for big market swings.
FOLLOWING TRENDS
Quantitative hedge funds, which use algorithms and coding to track markets, benefited from big moves in several markets, including stocks, currencies, grains and soft commodities such as cocoa and coffee, which both rose sharply last year.
For Dunn Capital Management, those were all positive drivers for the Dunn WMA trading program, which returned 7.28% for the year despite negative drivers in energy, metals and European equities, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
Hedge fund CFM (Capital Fund Management), also a quantitative investment manager, returned 12.01% in its Discus fund and 14.22% in its Stratus fund, another source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
British fund Winton saw a roughly 10% return on investment in its multi-strategy systematic fund. In total, the hedge fund manages approximately $13 billion.
Transtrend's diversified trend program returned 5.90% for 2024.
Fund name Percentage
get up
2024
Marshall Wace – Eureka 14.32*
Marshall Wace – Neutral Market – Highs 22.59*
Marshall Wace – Alpha Plus 15.86*
Winton – Multistrategic systematic fund 10.3
Bridgewater Associates* – Pure Alpha 18% 11.2
St
Bridgewater Associates* – China Total (EPA:) 35
Return
DE Shaw – Oculus 36.1
DE Shaw – Composite 18
Millennium Management 15
CFM Discus 12.01
CFM Stratus 14.22
CFM Systematic Global Macro 13.32
CFM Cumulus 14.12
IS CFM trends 18.94
CFM IS Trends Equity Limited 12.42
DUNN WMA program 7.28
Transtrend 5.9
Citadel Wellington 15.1
Tactical Citadel 22.3
Citadel Equities 18
Citadel Global Fixed Income 9.7
Strategic partners Schonfeld 19.7
Schonfeld Fundamental Equity 21.1
Discovery Capital 52
Cinctive Capital 22.8
Anson Investments Master Fund 10
Svetlá street 59.4
Graham Proprietary Matrix 11.9
* result as of December 27 Source: several people with knowledge of the matter. The companies refused to comment on the matter.
