Are you looking for a list of hedge funds? Hedge fund assets touched a record high last year, marking the best performance in over ten years. Hedge funds are comparatively riskier than other investments. For those who don’t know, a hedge fund collects money from big investors to invest in various categories, such as securities, real estate, and currencies. Subsequently, they follow different strategies to get healthy returns for their investors.
List of the Best Hedge Funds
| Rank | Profile | Managed AUM | Type | Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bridgewater Associates, LP | $235,542,378,467 | Hedge Fund Manager | North America |
| 2 | Balyasny Asset Management | $180,959,433,560 | Hedge Fund Manager | North America |
| 3 | Tiger Global Management LLC | $124,655,466,641 | Hedge Fund Manager | North America |
| 4 | Garda Capital Partners | $124,164,445,000 | Hedge Fund Manager | North America |
| 5 | Renaissance Technologies LLC | $121,848,923,848 | Hedge Fund Manager | North America |
| 6 | Capula Investment Management LLP | $118,360,187,022 | Hedge Fund Manager | Europe |
| 7 | ExodusPoint Capital Management | $115,731,633,205 | Hedge Fund Manager | North America |
| 8 | Squarepoint Capital LLP | $75,716,520,593 | Hedge Fund Manager | Europe |
| 9 | Two Sigma Investments | $74,437,035,981 | Hedge Fund Manager | North America |
| 10 | Coatue Capital, L.L.C. | $73,333,689,427 | Hedge Fund Manager | North America |
What Is a Hedge Fund Manager?
A hedge fund manager is responsible for making investment decisions for a hedge fund. They have the liberty to choose the markets to invest in and manage the level of risk. The biggest motivation for a hedge fund manager to be successful is receiving a performance bonus of up to 20 percent of the total profit generated by the fund. Hence, we can certainly say that the hedge fund manager’s history, experience, and skills are the most important things for investors before choosing a hedge fund.
Moreover, hedge funds also receive a fee from investors for managing assets. The fee usually ranges from 1 to 2 percent of the total investment. Nevertheless, not everyone can invest in hedge funds, as they need a minimum investment of $100,000. Moreover, investors may not be allowed to withdraw money for a certain period following their investment. We’ll get you a list of hedge funds to look at.
What Makes up a Hedge Fund?
Hedge funds have mostly been underperforming stock market indices. Did you know hedge funds have only been able to surpass the S&P 500 just one time during the past decade? However, Hedge funds hit a record high of $290 during the last quarter of 2020. They were marking the best quarter in the history of hedge funds in terms of assets.
According to the HFR database, the total assets reached $3.6 trillion in 2020. Hedge funds also received a record investment of $16 billion during the second half of the previous year. Investors finally cheered the satisfying performance of the industry, which had struggled to generate profits for them in the past. To offer more insight into the industry’s recent performance, we have compiled a list of hedge funds, including some notable names.
List of Hedge Funds Examples
- Millennium Management
- Renaissance Technology
- AQR Capital Management
- Bridgewater Associates
- Man Group
- Two Signa Investments
Here is another list of hedge funds for you to look into. We can’t look into them all. So below are three of our favorites.
Greenlight Capital
Greenlight Capital is the first on the list of hedge funds. It was established in the mid-90s by fund manager David Einhorn.
The fund mainly invests in publicly traded American equities. Einhorn is one of the most closely watched hedge fund managers. He’s famous for his bold investment calls. Einhorn added a dozen new stocks to Greenlight’s portfolio in the first half 2020.
He became famous as a shortseller after winning bets against firms such as Lehman Brothers and Enron. Last year, he even took a short position against streaming entertainment service Netflix (NFLX).
Netflix stock did extremely well in terms of growth in 2020, though the restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic brought more subscribers to its platform.
Meanwhile, Einhorn’s hedge fund has struggled to generate returns in recent years. This is resulting in some investors pulling out their money from the fund.
Greenlight returned around 14 percent in 2019 compared to a hefty loss of 34 percent in 2018. Yet, the fund has returned about 12.5 percent annually since its foundation.
If we look at recent investment decisions, Greenlight increased its stake in CNX Resources Corp. by nearly 19 percent. Einhorn reduced its stake in coal miner Consol Energy after its lackluster performance last year.
Einhorn has held a stake in Consol since 2014 and, sometimes, called it a long-term investment.
Renaissance Technologies LLC
The next on the list of hedge funds is Renaissance Technologies LLC. It is the world’s biggest hedge fund, famous for using quantitative models derived from statistical analysis to become profitable. James Simons founded the fund back in 1982.
It’s regarded as the most secretive hedge fund in the world. In the late 80s, it established its most profitable portfolio called the Medallion Fund, which had one of the best years as it grew 76 percent in 2020.
The apparent reason behind Medallion’s success is its quick adoption of market changes. Despite its high volatility in March, it managed to gain significant value by the year’s end.
However, the Medallion Fund is only available to present and ex-partners. Apart from Medallion, Renaissance Technologies has three funds for outsiders,: the Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund (RIEF), the Renaissance Institutional Diversified Global Equities, and Renaissance Institutional Diversified Alpha.
If we look at their recent performances, RIEF declined nearly 23 percent in the previous year, according to HSBC. Meanwhile, Renaissance Institutional Diversified Alpha plummeted 33.58 percent during the same period.
Point72 Asset Management
Point72 Asset Management is the third on the list of hedge funds. They were founded in 1992 and gained around 16 percent in 2020 under the leadership of Steven Cohen.
Much of that growth came in the second half, as the fund gained approx. Four percent in the first half. The hedge fund manages around $19 billion across multiple businesses.
Its diversified portfolio also includes top-performing technology stocks such as e-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN), tech giant Alibaba (BABA), social network giant Facebook (FB), and software maker giant Microsoft (MSFT). Looking at the notable developments, Point72 acquired 29.9 million Palantir Technologies (PLTR) shares during the third quarter of 2020. Last month, the hedge fund purchased 1.1 million Porch Group (PRCH) shares for $14 million.
Meanwhile, Cohen is planning to acquire additional office space in Florida. The hedge fund will open an office near West Palm Beach by the end of the first half.
Moreover, the firm is also exploring a new location in Miami. The new office spaces will be allocated to existing and future employees, mostly investment staff, who want to relocate south.
Elliott Management
Elliott Management is the next on the list of hedge funds. It is one of the biggest activist funds. Last year, the hedge fund raised its stakes in many leading tech companies. It’s famous for making investments in smaller software firms and then later pushing them to explore sale options and generating profit in case they receive a buyout offer.
The hedge fund, founded by billionaire Paul Singer, has been pouring more money into the tech industry. It bought stakes in eBay, SAP, and AT&T in 2019.
Last year, it acquired stakes in Twitter and SoftBank. The fund last month disclosed a 15.1 percent stake in German-based tech startup incubator Rocket Internet.
Elliott Management handled assets worth $42 billion in 2020. It continues to explore mid-sized software firms.
However, finding suitable tech firms for investment is no longer an easy task. As many are consolidating and expanding lately that has made the management more complicated.
Outside the tech sector, Elliott Management recently made a strategic investment of $50 million in the tattoo-removal service provider Removery.
Meanwhile, Elliott decided to shut its Hong Kong office after operating in the country for nearly 15 years. Many believe the decision was a result of political unrest in the region, with China trying to strengthen its hold on the territory. Elliott will relocate its Hong Kong employees to London and Tokyo.
Final Thoughts on List of Hedge Funds
We hope this list of hedge funds gives you an idea of what to look at if you’re interested in having a manager. Just make sure to do your research and choose the right one. There have been some movies made of ones that didn’t turn out so well.
