Hedge Fund 2025 Leaderboard: Bridgewater Flagship Fund returns a record 34%, Bridgewater China ranks third, surpassing Dashaohai.

The global hedge fund industry achieved its strongest performance in at least five years in 2025, with the market volatility caused by the Trump administration's trade war creating lucrative opportunities for traders. On Friday, January 2nd, media reports indicated that the overall return rate for hedge funds in 2025 reached the highest level in at least five years. Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund, saw its flagship fund Pure Alpha II achieve a record-breaking return of 34%, reversing the trend of lackluster annual returns of less than 3% from 2012 to 2024. D.E. Shaw's flagship strategy fund also performed well, and the Melqart Opportunities Fund topped the charts with a 45% return. It was reported that Bridgewater achieved its highest annual profit in 50 years under current CEO Nir Bar Dea's leadership. In addition to Pure Alpha II, Bridgewater's China Macro Fund and All Weather Strategy Fund also achieved returns of 34% and 20% respectively. D.E. Shaw's flagship D.E. Shaw Composite fund grew by 18.5%, while its Oculus fund had a return rate as high as 28.2%. Commentators believe that the strong performance of hedge funds can be attributed to the significant rise in the stock market driven by artificial intelligence (AI) themes, as well as the intense market volatility in the bond and currency markets triggered by Trump's trade war. In 2025, the three major U.S. stock indexes recorded double-digit annual increases for the third consecutive year, a feat that had not been seen since the period from 2019 to 2021. Preliminary statistics from the media show that out of 25 major hedge funds, slightly more than half, a total of 14 funds, outperformed the S&P 500 index, which had gained 16.7%. However, only seven funds surpassed the approximately 20.4% increase in the Nasdaq, with three of them coming from Bridgewater. In addition, it was reported on Friday that Citadel's flagship hedge fund Wellington had a full-year return of 10.2%. If this information is accurate, it would mean that Ken Griffin's funds also did not outperform the market. Strong performance of macro strategy funds Several funds under Bridgewater achieved breakthrough results in 2025. On Thursday, media reports cited insider sources as saying that as of December 29th, Bridgewater's flagship Pure Alpha II fund had a full-year return of approximately 33% to 34%, significantly outperforming the S&P 500 index for the same period. As a global macro fund, this fund typically invests in stocks, bonds, currencies, and commodities. According to media statistics released on Friday, Bridgewater's Asia Pacific Total Return Fund performed particularly well, with a return rate of 37%, ranking it second among 25 major hedge funds. Bridgewater's China Total Return Fund also achieved a 34% increase, on par with the flagship fund. The risk-parity strategy All Weather Fund also secured a 20% return. As of September 30th, Bridgewater had assets under management of approximately $92 billion. It was reported on Thursday that Bridgewater has been actively deploying new strategies in recent years, including a $5 billion fund AIA Macro that makes investment decisions using AI, with a return rate of 11.9%. The company launched the "Artificial Investor" tool in 2024, a move that can be traced back to the recruitment of Chief Scientist Jas Sekhon by Co-Chief Investment Officer Greg Jensen in 2018. Event-driven funds lead the way The event-driven fund Melqart Opportunities Fund managed by Michel Massoud took the top spot with a return rate of 45.1%. Media reports indicated that this performance made it one of the top-performing hedge funds in 2025. Event-driven strategies profit from investment opportunities created by special events such as mergers and restructurings. Against the backdrop of escalating trade policy uncertainty, the flexibility of such funds has been fully demonstrated. Kite Lake Special Opportunities, which also employs event-driven strategies, achieved a return rate of 17.9%, placing it in the middle of the industry. Mixed performance of multi-strategy funds Both flagship funds of D.E. Shaw outperformed the market benchmarks. According to reports, the Oculus fund has never recorded a negative return year since its inception in 2004, achieving a net return rate of approximately 28.2% in 2025 and an annualized net return rate of 14.4%. The larger Composite fund achieved a net return rate of approximately 18.5%, with an annualized net return rate of 12.9% since its inception in 2001, experiencing only one year of operating loss during that period. As of December 1st, D.E. Shaw, established in 1988, managed over $85 billion in assets, covering hedge funds, private markets, multi-asset classes, and active equity investment strategies. Other multi-strategy funds displayed varying performances. In 2025, Dymon recorded a return rate of 18.1%, ExodusPoint achieved a return rate of 18.04%, its best performance since its establishment in 2017, and Balyasny reached 16.7%. However, industry giant Millennium only achieved a return rate of 10.5%, similar to Citadel's Wellington fund, failing to outperform the S&P 500 index. The returns of Walleye, Pinpoint Multi-Strategy, and New Holland Tactical Alpha were 15.5%, 11.6%, and 9.8% respectively. Significant differences in stock strategy performance The returns of long-short equity strategy funds varied widely. Soroban Opportunities achieved a strong return of 25%, significantly outperforming the market benchmark. Anson Investments Master, as a stock strategy fund, achieved a growth of 21.2%. Schonfeld's Fundamental Equity fund grew by 16.5%, slightly below the S&P 500 index, while its multi-strategy fund Strategic Partners achieved a return of 12.5%. Marshall Wace's Eureka/Long-Short Equity Strategy grew by 11.6%, and the FIFTHDELTA Equity fund had a return rate of 10.3%. The multi-strategy return rate of Winton's Quantitative Strategy fund was 7.4%, placing it at the bottom of the 25 funds surveyed. It was reported on Friday that AQR Capital Management, founded by billionaire investor Cliff Asness, achieved an annual return rate of 19.6% for its multi-strategy Apex Strategy fund, with the alternative trend-tracking strategy Helix Strategy growing by 18.6%. Market volatility created price arbitrage opportunities for active management funds. A research report released earlier last year by D.E. Shaw pointed out that there was a "supply-demand imbalance" in the tools used by investors to hold S&P 500 component stocks. This structural opportunity was magnified during the market turbulence caused by Trump's policies. This article is excerpted from "Wall Street Seen", written by Li Dan; GMTEight editor: He Yu Cheng.