By Nell Mackenzie and Carolina Mandl
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) -Some of the world’s largest hedge funds finished 2024 with comfortable double-digit returns, benefiting from chaotic markets, central bank policy changes and a tight U.S. presidential election race.
Hedge funds, which trade several different asset classes from stocks to commodities, navigated volatile markets with some degree of success.
British hedge fund Marshall Wace, which manages almost $71 billion, returned double-digit gains in several of its funds, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
Co-founded by British financier Paul Marshall, the firm returned around 14% in its Eureka fund, just over 22% in its Market Neutral Tops fund and almost 16% in its Alpha Plus fund in the year to Dec. 27, the source said.
Hedge fund manager Bridgewater Associates’ flagship Pure Alpha 18% volatility fund gained just over 11% in 2024 through Dec. 27, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Large U.S. multi-strategy firms also posted double-digit gains.
Schonfeld’s flagship hedge fund Strategic Partners was up 19.7% in 2024 while its Fundamental Equity fund gained 21.1%.
Citadel’s flagship fund Wellington posted a 15.1% gain, while Millennium Management returned 15% in 2024, according to people familiar with the results.
Citadel offered clients the option to cash out Wellington’s profits. Very few clients took up the offer, with redemptions totaling only roughly $300 million out of billions in profit.
Two of D.E. Shaw’s multi-strategy funds posted double-digit returns including its flagship Composite fund, which gained 18% in 2024 and its more macro-oriented fund Oculus, which posted a 36% return in the same period, its best-ever annual performance, said another person close to the matter.
Millennium and D.E. Shaw’s results were first reported by the Financial Times and Bloomberg, respectively.
Jon Caplis, CEO of hedge fund research firm PivotalPath, said there was “a resurgence of the multi-strat space across 2024,” and he expects to see more inflows to the strategy.
Last year’s gains came as rate cuts from the likes of the U.S. Federal Reserve helped push stocks higher, while a decisive election win for Donald Trump and Bank of Japan rate hikes were other catalysts for big market swings.
Hedge funds in 2023 averaged a 5.7% return in the year through November, according to hedge fund research firm PivotalPath, with equity funds leading the pack, up 18.2%.
TRACKING TRENDS
Quantitative hedge funds, which use algorithms and coding to track markets, benefited from big moves in several markets including equities, currencies, grains and “soft” commodities such as cocoa and coffee, which both surged last year.
For the $728 million Dunn Capital Management, these were all positive drivers for the Dunn WMA trading program, which returned 7.28% for the year despite negative drivers in energies, metals and European equities, said a source with knowledge of the matter.
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. Overall, the hedge fund manages around $13 billion.
Transtrend’s Diversified Trend Program returned 5.90% for 2024.
Fund name Percentage
rise in
2024
Marshall Wace – Eureka 14.32*
Marshall Wace – Market Neutral Tops 22.59*
Marshall Wace – Alpha Plus 15.86*
Winton – Multi-strategy systematic fund 10.3
Bridgewater Associates* – Pure Alpha 18% 11.2
vol
Bridgewater Associates* – China Total (EPA:) 35
Return
D.E. Shaw – Oculus 36.1
D.E. Shaw – Composite 18
Millennium Management 15
CFM Discus 12.01
CFM Stratus 14.22
CFM Systematic Global Macro (BCBA:) 13.32
CFM Cumulus 14.12
CFM IS Trends 18.94
CFM IS Trends Equity Capped 12.42
DUNN WMA program 7.28
Transtrend 5.9
Citadel Wellington 15.1
Citadel Tactical 22.3
Citadel Equities 18
Citadel Global Fixed Income 9.7
Schonfeld Strategic Partners 19.7
Schonfeld Fundamental Equity 21.1
* result as of Dec. 27Sourcing: several people with knowledge of the matter. Firms declined to comment on the matter.
