UK Eases Rules for Hedge Funds in Sweeping Overhaul of Short Selling Rules
The UK Financial Conduct Authority announced a sweeping overhaul of short‑selling rules, easing restrictions that previously limited hedge fund activities. The changes aim to boost market liquidity and reduce compliance costs, while Dubai simultaneously softened its regulatory burden to attract funds amid regional instability. In parallel, hedge funds are capitalising on energy’s outperformance and heightened commodity volatility, with Bankinter launching a diversified alternative‑asset fund and Bank of America’s commodity desk seeing a 60% revenue jump. These developments signal a broader shift toward more flexible regulation and opportunistic positioning in volatile markets.
Bankinter Investment Launches Hedge Fund to Broaden Access to Diversified Alternative Assets
Spain’s Bankinter Investment has launched the Bankinter Investment Inversión Alternativa II, FIL, a hedge‑fund‑style vehicle that lowers the entry barrier to alternative assets to €10,000 (about $11,000). The closed‑ended fund will invest in a diversified mix of energy, infrastructure, real...
Hedge Funds Move Into Market for Trump-Era Tariff Refunds
Hedge funds in London, New York and other hubs are buying rights to potential U.S. tariff refunds after a Supreme Court ruling nullified Trump-era duties that generated roughly $166 billion in collections. Importers are selling their refund claims at a discount...
Energy Emerges as Hedge Fund Bright Spot Amid Global Equity Sell-Off Driven by Middle East Conflict
Global equity markets slipped in March as Middle East tensions sparked heightened volatility, but energy stocks emerged as a rare bright spot for hedge funds. Hazeltree data shows hedge funds boosted long exposure to the energy sector by 55% versus...
Two Sigma, DE Shaw Join Push-Back on SEC Plan to Loosen Quarterly Reporting
Two Sigma Investments and DE Shaw have joined a growing coalition of hedge funds opposing the SEC’s proposal to make quarterly earnings reporting optional for U.S. public companies. The firms argue that less frequent disclosures would erode market transparency, increase...
Concentration of Hedge Fund Financing Among Major Banks Raises Stability Concerns, S&P Warns
S&P Global warns that financing for hedge funds is becoming concentrated among four major banks—BNP Paribas, Barclays, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley—whose market‑related revenues rose about 25% to over $24 billion, now roughly 30% of their income. Outstanding prime‑brokerage financing to...
Macro Hedge Funds in China Hit by Sharp Losses
Macro hedge funds operating in China posted sharp losses in March as geopolitical tension sparked volatile swings across equities, bonds, commodities and FX. Bridgewater's All Weather Plus systematic strategy slipped 5.6%, while Shanghai Longlife's Macro Hedging No1 fund plunged 25%....
Hedgeweek® in Conversation with Wellington Management
Hedge‑funds posted mixed performance in early 2024, with SS&C GlobeOp reporting a 2.3% loss in March but a 4.5% inflow rebound in April, adding roughly $12 billion of new capital. BlackRock urged investors to diversify allocations amid heightened volatility, while digital‑asset...
BlackRock Calls on Investors to Diversify Hedge Fund Allocations Amid Heightened Volatility
BlackRock’s Spring Hedge Fund Outlook urges investors to broaden exposure across a wider array of hedge‑fund strategies as macro uncertainty, AI‑driven market shifts, and geopolitical tensions heighten volatility. The firm warns that hidden correlations, leverage, and crowding in multi‑manager platforms...
Ackman Launches Roadshow for Dual IPO of Pershing Square Entities
Bill Ackman has kicked off a roadshow for a dual IPO that will list Pershing Square Capital Management and a new public fund, Pershing Square USA (PSUS), on the NYSE. PSUS aims to raise between $5 billion and $10 billion, with shares...
Alua Capital to Wind Down $2bn Hedge Fund After Underwhelming Returns
Alua Capital announced it will wind down its flagship hedge fund, which managed roughly $2 billion in assets. The fund’s performance lagged expectations, delivering sub‑2% annualized returns since its inception. Alua plans to liquidate positions and return cash to investors over...
Exclusive: The Ex-Rokos, Brevan Veteran Quietly Building a Commodities Fund in ‘One of the Most Interesting Markets in a Generation’
Luke Sadrian, former Rokos and Brevan Howard partner, launched the Fulcrum Commodities Fund in October 2025, quickly amassing $359 million in assets, including $250 million of external capital. The fund generated a 30.5% return from inception to March 2026, driven by a directional...
Wall Street Banks Set for $40bn Trading Windfall as Geopolitical Volatility Fuels Market Swings
Wall Street’s five biggest banks are on track to generate more than $40 bn in trading profit for Q1, the strongest collective performance since at least 2014. The surge is driven by heightened geopolitical tension in the Middle East and renewed...
S&P Dow Jones Launches New CDS Index Facilitating Bets Against Private Credit
S&P Dow Jones has launched a credit‑default‑swap (CDS) index that tracks a basket of private‑credit issuers, giving investors a standardized way to hedge or short exposure to the fast‑growing private debt market. The index, which aggregates roughly 30 mid‑market loan...
Surge in Rates Triggers Worst Month for Brazilian Hedge Funds Since 2020
Brazilian hedge funds posted their worst month since 2020, falling 3.4% in March as global rate hikes and soaring oil prices erased macro bets. The decline outpaced the 1.2% rise in the CDI benchmark, highlighting underperformance versus cash. Major managers...
Macro Hedge Funds Worst Hit in March Amid Middle East Turmoil
Macro hedge funds recorded their steepest March decline since the pandemic, slipping roughly 5.5% as the Israel‑Iran escalation drove oil to $100 per barrel and spooked equity markets. The turmoil forced a rapid unwind of short positions in U.S. stocks,...
Asset Managers Turn to Internal Data as AI Reshapes Alpha Generation
Major asset managers such as BlackRock and Balyasny are increasingly using artificial intelligence to mine their own internal data for investment signals, as the once‑valuable alternative data market becomes commoditized. Large language models now enable firms to process vast unstructured...
AI Shifts From Signal Generation to Capital Allocation in Hedge Funds
The hedge‑fund industry is moving from AI‑generated trade signals to AI‑driven capital allocation, treating portfolio construction as a learning problem. Alphacircle AI showcases this shift with a deep‑reinforcement‑learning system that posted a reported 36.2% return in 2025, a Sharpe ratio...
RG Niederhoffer Capital Management Posts 27.4% Q1 Gain Even as Volatility Rises
RG Niederhoffer Capital Management reported a 27.4% gain for the first quarter, outperforming most peers despite a surge in market volatility. The firm’s systematic, volatility‑scaled models generated strong returns while many hedge funds posted modest or negative results. The performance...
Alternative Views with Vincent Ijaouane
March’s heightened market volatility rattled many multi‑strategy hedge funds, delivering the sector’s heaviest monthly drawdown in over four years. Two Sigma bucked the trend, posting outperformance against peers while simultaneously confronting a governance shake‑up that led to the resignation of...
Two Sigma Outperforms Multi-Strat Peers Amid March Market Volatility
Two Sigma’s multi‑strategy funds delivered positive returns in March despite heightened market volatility, outpacing peer groups that posted double‑digit losses. The firm’s systematic, data‑driven approach insulated its portfolio from sharp equity and commodity swings. At the same time, Two Sigma’s...
Tiger Global, Viking, Maverick Hit by March Market Turmoil
Several high‑profile hedge funds, including Tiger Global, Viking and Maverick, suffered steep losses in March as market volatility surged. The turmoil triggered the sector’s heaviest monthly drawdown in over four years, echoing broader Q1 challenges for equity‑heavy strategies. While some...
Pershing Square Proposes UMG Acquisition via SPAC Deal
Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management has proposed acquiring Universal Music Group through a SPAC merger that would move UMG’s listing from Amsterdam to New York. The offer provides €5.05 in cash plus 0.77 new shares for each UMG share,...
Citadel’s Global Fixed Income Strategy Hit by March Market Turmoil
Citadel’s Global Fixed Income strategy posted a roughly 5% loss in March as bond markets roiled amid shifting Federal Reserve expectations. The turbulence contributed to hedge funds experiencing their heaviest monthly drawdown since 2020, with many flagship funds struggling through...
Big Name Hedge Funds Struggle in Choppy Q1 Markets
The first quarter of 2026 proved turbulent for leading hedge funds as geopolitical tensions and market volatility eroded returns. Balyasny Asset Management’s $33 billion portfolio slipped 4.3% in March, leaving it down 3.8% year‑to‑date, while ExodusPoint fell 4.5% in the same...
Jana Partners Takes 5% Stake in Alkami Technology
Jana Partners has acquired a 5% equity stake in Alkami Technology, a provider of cloud‑based digital banking platforms for community banks and credit unions. The activist firm plans to engage with Alkami’s board to accelerate growth and improve operational efficiency....
Sona Asset Management Strengthens Japan Focus
Asset manager Sona has hired two senior executives to deepen its Japan outreach, ahead of a new Tokyo office later this year. Suzutaro Kuroyanagi joins as Senior Manager of Japan Business Development and Investor Relations in Tokyo, bringing over three...
Significance Capital Launches with Focus on Market Inflexion Points
Hedge‑week’s latest roundup highlights a wave of strategic launches and restructurings across the alternative‑investment landscape. Significance Capital debuted with a focus on market inflection points, while Blackstone announced its first high‑net‑worth‑individual hedge fund. Established players such as Goldman Sachs warned...
Muzinich Strengthens Senior Leadership as It Expands Global Credit Platform
Muzinich & Co. announced senior leadership appointments, adding a chief risk officer and chief investment officer to steer its expanding global credit platform. The firm is broadening its footprint across Europe, Asia and Latin America, aiming to capture heightened demand...
The Evolution of Fund Governance to Meet Investor Expectations
Independent directors in hedge funds have shifted from mere compliance roles to strategic pillars of governance, reflecting heightened investor scrutiny after the 2008 crisis. Investors now demand evidence of active board oversight, including meeting frequency, valuation challenges, and conflict management....
Millennium Hires Former JPMorgan Credit Trader in London
Millennium Management has hired a former JPMorgan credit trader to join its London office, bolstering the firm’s credit trading desk. The move comes as Millennium expands its European footprint and seeks to deepen its credit research capabilities. The hire underscores...
Hedge Funds Position for Potential BOJ Hawkish Tilt Amid Iran War Inflation Risks
Hedge funds such as Fivestar Asset Management are reshaping their Japanese bond and currency positions ahead of the Bank of Japan’s policy meeting, expecting Governor Kazuo Ueda to hint at a hawkish stance due to inflation pressures from the Iran...
Hedge Funds Sell Financial Stocks Amid Market Uncertainty
Hedge funds have trimmed roughly $3 billion of exposure to financial‑sector equities amid heightened market uncertainty. Short positions on major banks rose about 15% in the past week, reflecting concerns over a potentially hawkish monetary policy stance and escalating geopolitical risks....
Hedge Funds Turn to Exotic Cross-Asset Options Amid Market Turmoil
Hedge funds and institutional investors are turning to exotic cross‑asset options as the Iran‑related conflict fuels extreme volatility across energy, equity, bond and currency markets. Brent crude recorded a $36 intraday swing on March 9, breaking traditional correlations and weakening the...
QuantumStreet AI Launches Long-Short Global Equity Strategy
QuantumStreet AI has introduced a 130/30 Long‑Short Global Equity strategy aimed at institutional investors seeking AI‑driven exposure to the MSCI World Index. The model combines structured macro, fundamental and technical data with unstructured sources like news and earnings calls, generating...
Biotech Recovery: Fundamentals Meet Opportunity
Small- and mid‑cap biotechnology has rebounded sharply, climbing over 35% year‑to‑date in 2025 after a 20% early‑year dip and a 60% drawdown during the COVID‑era bubble. The rally is fueled by stronger clinical data, successful product launches, heightened M&A activity,...
Millennium Hires Longtime Citadel Stockpicker
Millennium expanded its equities team, hiring a veteran Citadel stockpicker and two additional equity traders, signaling aggressive talent acquisition amid market turbulence. Meanwhile, Linedata introduced Mosaic to streamline front‑office operations, and a HedgeWeek report highlighted stagnant female partner representation in...
Which Hedge Fund Strategies Win when Oil Takes Over?
Crude oil’s rapid climb to near $120 per barrel has created a stark performance divide among hedge‑fund strategies. PivotalPath’s Regimes analysis shows managed futures delivering 9.1% and global macro‑commodities 8.8% when oil trades between $100‑$140, while the broader hedge‑fund index...
Macro Hedge Funds Drive February Gains as Geopolitical Risks Rise
Macro and equity hedge funds delivered solid February returns as geopolitical tensions rose. The HFRI Composite Index rose 1.9%, driven by macro strategies that posted a 3% gain, the strongest monthly performance since 2003. Commodity‑focused macro managers led the charge...
Hedge Funds Rank AI as Their Top Priority – but Experts Say They May Be Ignoring This Blind Spot
A Hedgeweek survey shows 41% of hedge funds now rank AI integration ahead of talent and cost optimisation, making it the sector’s top priority for 2026. Roughly one‑third have already embedded AI into research and trading, while another quarter are...
Squarepoint Affiliate Launches Market-Making Unit
STG Group, an affiliate of Squarepoint Capital, announced the launch of STG Securities, an independent electronic market‑making broker‑dealer. The new unit will trade securities using its own capital and is headed by Kirill Gelman, who previously led automated options trading...
DoubleLine Highlights Emerging Market Opportunities Despite Middle East Tensions
DoubleLine Capital sees a "virtuous feedback loop" in emerging markets as a weakening U.S. dollar and ongoing central‑bank rate cuts create attractive local‑currency fixed‑income opportunities. While recent U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran sparked a sharp sell‑off in EM currencies and equities,...
AI Agent ‘Fleets’ Could Transform Hedge Fund Research, Says Avala Global Founder
Avala Global founder Divya Nettimi told Bloomberg Invest that hedge funds could soon deploy fleets of AI agents to multiply research capacity. In three to five years, bots might monitor data across hundreds of stocks, letting analysts expand coverage from...
Pershing Square Down 11% as Ackman Eyes Management Company IPO
Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings has fallen 11.1% year‑to‑date through February 24, underperforming the S&P 500’s modest gain. The London‑listed fund, which represents about $13 billion of the firm’s $20 billion AUM, is hit by weakness in key positions such as Fannie Mae,...
Hedge Funds Warn UK Non-Compete Ban Could Prompt Talent Exodus
The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has warned that the UK government’s proposal to restrict or ban non‑compete clauses could erode the country’s competitive edge as hedge funds vie for talent. AIMA’s chief executive Jack Inglis called the plan “radical,”...
Hedge Funds Scramble to Assess Risk as Middle East Conflict Jolts Markets
Hedge funds rushed to gauge exposure and rebalance portfolios after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran sparked a sharp market sell‑off. Oil jumped more than 13% at the open, while risk‑sensitive Asian currencies fell and safe‑haven assets rallied. Managers focused...
Hedge Funds Ramped up Oil Longs Ahead of Iran Attack
Hedge funds significantly increased long positions in crude oil as tensions between Iran and Israel escalated, anticipating a potential supply shock. Data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission shows a roughly 15% rise in net long exposure, equivalent to about...
Saba Pushes Back as Impax Threatens Exit Tender Showdown
Activist hedge fund Saba Capital, which owns about 22% of Impax Environmental Markets, is demanding that the £811 million trust cover all costs of an exit tender for shareholders wishing to leave. Impax chair Glen Suarez warned the board could launch...
Hedge Fund Rubric Capital Warns of ‘Enron-Like’ Accounting Risks in Private Credit
Rubric Capital, a $3 billion hedge fund, warned that certain business development companies are temporarily shifting debt off their balance sheets at quarter‑end, making leverage appear lower than it truly is. The firm described the practice as “Enron‑like” accounting, using short‑term...
Australian Bonds Attract Global Hedge Fund Flows as AI Trade Loses Momentum
Global hedge funds are redirecting capital into Australian government bonds as AI‑driven equity valuations lose steam. Inflows to Australian bond funds topped AUD 4 billion in 2025, the strongest in four years, driven by the country’s 4.7% 10‑year yield—the highest among developed...