Hedge funds score double-digit returns in 2024

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 US presidential election race.

Hedge funds in 2024 averaged a 10.7 per cent return in the year through November, according to PivotalPath, versus 5.7 per cent in the same period in 2023. But some portfolio managers scored gains above 50 per cent for the full last year.

Light Street Capital’s long/short fund focused on technology ended 2024 up 59.4 per cent. Overall, long/short hedge funds had their best year since 2020, Goldman Sachs said.

Macro hedge fund Discovery Capital ended 2024 up 52 per cent after gains across equities, currencies, rates and credit, a source familiar with the performance said, with trades in both emerging and developed countries.

Also on the macro side, Bridgewater Associates’ flagship Pure Alpha 18 per cent volatility fund gained just over 11 per cent in 2024 through Dec. 27, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

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 per cent in its Eureka fund, a source said.

Large US multi-strategy firms also posted double-digit gains.

Cinctive Capital went up 22.8 per cent last year, while Schonfeld’s flagship hedge fund Strategic Partners rose 19.7 per cent.

Citadel’s flagship fund Wellington posted a 15.1 per cent gain, while Millennium Management returned 15 per cent 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 per cent in 2024, and its more macro-oriented fund Oculus, which posted a 36 per cent return in the same period, its best-ever annual performance, said another person close to the matter.

British fund Winton saw a roughly 10 per cent return on investment in its multi-strategy systematic fund. Overall, the hedge fund manages around $13 billion.