Small Hedge Funds Beat Multistrats in Rollercoaster First Half
Equities and event-driven strategies led hedge-fund gains in the first half of the year, after a brutal first quarter gave way to a broad recovery in recent months. CastleKnight and Melqart's Opportunities…
Equities and event-driven strategies led hedge-fund gains in the first half of the year, after a brutal first quarter gave way to a broad recovery in recent months.
CastleKnight and Melqart’s Opportunities funds notched gains of 42.3% and 29.1%, respectively, in the six months through June, according to people familiar with the matter. Meanwhile, Asia-focused equities funds TAL China Focus and Keystone scored 95.1% and 62.7% over the period, the people said.
1%, respectively, in the six months through June, according to people familiar with the matter.
Among the largest multistrategy managers, Citadel’s Wellington fund gained 1.8% in June, bringing year-to-date returns to 5.7%, while Millennium Management jumped 4.1% last month, bringing first-half gains to 10.5%. Qube Research & Technologies’ Torus fund gained 7.8% in June, driving returns for the first six months to 18.6%.
Representatives for all of the funds declined to comment.
After a bruising March, hedge funds rebounded strongly in the second quarter on optimism around a potential end to the conflict in the Middle East. Following a sharp selloff in early April, markets staged a powerful recovery through May and June, with the S&P 500 posting its best quarter since 2020.
Investor interest in hedge funds is also soaring. A Bank of America survey earlier this year showed that more than half of investors, on a net basis, were looking to increase their allocation in 2026, making hedge funds the most popular asset class for the year.
