Bridgewater Associates’ flagship cash pool posted report good points, whereas D.E. Shaw & Co.’s methods soared as a lot as 28% to rank among the many largest hedge fund winners of 2025 when tariff-fueled market uncertainty introduced a fertile searching floor for merchants.
Bridgewater’s Pure Alpha II macro fund returned 34% final 12 months, its finest ever, whereas the All Climate technique rose 20%, an individual with information of the matter mentioned, asking to not be recognized discussing non-public data. D.E. Shaw’s flagship multistrategy Composite hedge fund gained18.5% and Oculus made an estimated 28.2%.
Michel Massoud’s event-driven Melqart Alternatives Fund surged 45%, one other particular person mentioned. Millennium Administration, the $83.5 billion multistrategy hedge fund agency, gained 10.5% final 12 months. ExodusPoint, which has been constructing out its equities group to enrich its fixed-income operations led by co-founder Michael Gelband, gained 18%, probably the most since its founding in 2017. The agency manages about $12 billion.
Citadel’s flagship hedge fund posted a ten.2% enhance in 2025, based on an individual acquainted with the matter, who requested to not be recognized citing non-public data. It was the primary 12 months that Millennium outperformed Citadel’s Wellington fund since 2020.
Learn Extra: Citadel’s Flagship Hedge Fund Climbed 10.2% Final 12 months
The preliminary estimates present hedge funds general posted sturdy good points with trade returns on monitor to be the very best in not less than 5 years as surging US shares, treasured metals and volatility in bond and forex markets spurred by President Donald Trump’s commerce wars helped.
Bridgewater, the 50-year-old agency, posted double-digit returns throughout methods. The cash supervisor has been in reboot mode since Nir Bar Dea turned sole chief govt officer in 2023 and made sweeping personnel adjustments and reduce belongings in a bid to spice up efficiency. Westport, Connecticut-based Bridgewater’s billionaire founder, Ray Dalio, has utterly exited the agency, promoting his remaining stake and stepping down from the board final 12 months.
Bridgewater’s Pure Alpha II fund’s good points final 12 months symbolize a rebound from annualized returns of lower than 3% between 2012 and 2024, Bloomberg has beforehand reported. The agency’s AIA Labs fund that makes use of machine studying as the first foundation of its decision-making, has raised greater than $5 billion and was up 11% final 12 months, the particular person added.
On this planet of quantitative investing, AQR Capital Administration’s multistrategy providing returned 19.6% in 2025, based on an individual acquainted with the matter who declined to be recognized as the data is non-public.
Learn Extra: AQR’s Multistrategy Apex Positive factors 19.6% in Turbulent Quant 12 months
Right here’s how different hedge funds fared final 12 months primarily based on preliminary estimates:
| Hedge Fund | Technique | 2025 Return |
|---|---|---|
| Melqart Alternatives | Occasion-Pushed | 45.1% |
| Bridgewater Asia | Macro | 37 |
| Discovery | Macro | 35.6 |
| Bridgewater Pure Alpha II | Macro | 34 |
| Bridgewater China | Macro | 34 |
| DE Shaw Oculus | Multistrategy | 28.2 |
| Soroban Alternatives | Fairness Lengthy/Quick | 25 |
| AQR Adaptive | Quant Fairness Market Impartial | 24.4 |
| Anson Investments Grasp | Fairness | 21.2 |
| Bridgewater All Climate | Threat Parity | 20 |
| AQR Apex | Quant Multistrategy | 19.6 |
| Citadel Tactical Buying and selling | Multistrategy | 18.6 |
| DE Shaw Composite | Multistrategy | 18.5 |
| Dymon | Multistrategy | 18.1 |
| ExodusPoint | Multistrategy | 18.04 |
| Kite Lake Particular Alternatives | Occasion-Pushed | 17.9 |
| AQR Delphi | Quant Fairness Lengthy/Quick | 16.8 |
| Balyasny | Multistrategy | 16.7 |
| Schonfeld Basic Fairness | Multimanager fairness | 16.5 |
| Walleye | Multistrategy | 15.5 |
| Citadel Equities | Equities | 14.5 |
| LMR Companions | Multistrategy | 13.5 |
| Schonfeld Strategic Companions | Multistrategy | 12.5 |
| Marshall Wace | Eureka*/Fairness Lengthy/Quick | 11.6 |
| Pinpoint Multi-Technique | Multistrategy | 11.6 |
| Bridgewater AIA | Quant Macro | 11 |
| Taula | Macro | 11 |
| Millennium | Multistrategy | 10.5 |
| Citadel Wellington | Multistrategy | 10.2 |
| FIFTHDELTA | Fairness | 10.3 |
| New Holland Tactical Alpha | Multistrategy | 9.8 |
| Citadel International Mounted Revenue | Mounted Revenue | 9.4 |
| Winton | Quant multistrategy | 7.4 |
| Supply: Bloomberg reporting | ||
| *as of Dec. 30 |
A consultant for Bridgewater, which managed $92 billion as of September, declined to remark. Massoud, who manages about $1.4 billion, in addition to representatives for the hedge funds talked about within the desk declined to remark.
