The 20 best hedge fund managers of all time earned $ 63.5 billion for investors during the turmoil in the coronavirus market in 2020, making it the best year of profit in a decade, despite a difficult twelve months for the US giants Bridgewater Associates and Renaissance. Technologies.
The top 20 fund-led executives, including Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global and Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management, made half of the hedge fund’s industry’s total profit last year, according to research by LCH Investments – a fund of hedge funds managed by the Edmond de Rothschild Group.
The gains highlight how some of the biggest names in the industry were able to navigate last year’s volatility, in which the S&P 500 posted its fastest decline in a bear market. Many were able to take advantage of the opportunities sold in March and the subsequent large increase in risky assets. In 2019, the top 20 executives made about one-third of the profits in the total industry.
‘The managers who can distinguish between sector winners and losers have made brilliant profits [in 2020], ”Says Rick Sopher, chairman of LCH, adding that human traders often outperform computer-driven strategies.
The optimal performance of some hedge funds comes after years of often muted returns. Ken Heinz, president of data group HFR, said last year should be “one of the best, if not the best year for the industry”.
Coleman’s Tiger Global, New York, in New York, a so-called Tiger cub started by executives who came from Julian Robertson’s Tiger Management, entered the top 20 moneymakers of all time in 14th place. According to LCH, it earned $ 10.4 billion after betting on rising stock prices, the highest profit among any of the top 20.
Jim Simons’ Renaissance fell out of the top 20, after its Institutional Diversified Alpha fund lost 32 percent and its Institutional Equities fund lost 20 percent, according to figures sent to investors, one of a number of quantum funds for money to lose.
Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater also suffered and lost $ 12.1 billion to investors last year after being hit by market sales. Mr Dalio told the Financial Times last March that “we stayed in our positions and afterwards we had to cut all risks”. The Pure Alpha fund, which wants to profit from macroeconomic trends, lost 7.6 percent last year, although the All-Weather funds earned 9.5 percent. Despite its losses last year, Bridgewater has remained at the top of the list of overall executives with $ 46.5 billion in profits since its inception.
Among other funds to earn were Millennium from Mr Englander, who managed $ 46.7 billion in assets and earned $ 10.2 billion last year, according to LCH. The fund, which curtailed losses during the spring turmoil, rose about 25 percent last year, including large gains in December, according to numbers sent to investors. These earnings have contributed to raising it to seventh place in the list of profits since the beginning, compared to the 12th year last year.
Ken Griffin’s Citadel, which manages $ 30 billion in assets, returned 24.4 percent to its Wellington fund, according to a person who saw the numbers, and $ 6.2 billion in profits last year. according to LCH. Steve Mandel’s Lone Pine earned $ 9.1 billion, raising it to third place from fourth place in the all-time list.