Sprawling multistrategy hedge-fund giants are built to make money in any type of market environment.
But that doesn’t mean they dislike it when stocks steadily tick upward.
Big-name hedge funds, including Ken Griffin’s $68 billion Citadel, Izzy Englander’s Millennium, and Dmitry’s Balyasny’s self-named firm, were positive in August, people close to these money managers tell Business Insider. Griffin’s flagship fund, Wellington, returned 0.9% last month, bringing its annual returns to 4.8%. Millennium, meanwhile, was up 1.2%, increasing its 2025 gains to 4.4%.
It was another month of gains for the two firms after they both lost money consecutively in February and March this year, a rare occurence.
Last month was a strong one for the Citadel’s stockpicking and quant teams, a person close to the Miami-based firm said. Citadel’s equities-only fund was up 1.6% in August, pushing its returns to 8% for the year. The firm’s tactical trading fund, a mix of fundamental stockpicking and quant, returned 1.9% last month, increasing its 2025 gains to 10.4%.
Balyasny, a source close to the Chicago-based manager told BI, was up 0.7% last month. The firm has returned 8.6% for 2025 in its flagship fund.
Global equity markets were up again in August, the fourth month of straight gains, ending the month with a year-to-date return close to 10%. The S&P 500 hit several all-time highs in the month despite the world’s largest company, chipmaker Nvidia, showing signs of slowing growth.
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It’s been a strong year for some multistrategy managers outside of the biggest four, including Michael Gelband’s ExodusPoint, which has leaned on its fixed-income prowess to power the firm to 10.3% returns through the end of August. Ari Glass, who runs $2.5 billion Boothbay, notched a 1.4% gain last month in his flagship fund, as his New York-based manager is up 9.8% in 2025.
Managers listed declined to comment. Return figures will be added to the table below as they are learned.
Editor’s note: This story was originally published on September 2 at 4:41 pm. New figures have been added to the table below as they have been learned.
