Datastream

Ranked: The World’s 20 Biggest Hedge Funds

Published

6 months ago

December 7, 2022

Avery Koop

Graphics/Design:

Bhabna Banerjee

the world's biggest hedge funds

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The Briefing

Bridgewater Associates remains the top hedge fund by assets under management (AUM)
Brevan Howard witnessed strong growth in AUM, moving from 26th to 19th in the ranking

Ranked: The World’s 20 Biggest Hedge Funds

Collectively, the world’s 15,000 hedge funds manage around $4.5 trillion in assets for their clients, weathering economic storms and world events to ensure returns.

This visual breaks down the world’s biggest hedge funds in terms of assets under management using data from Pensions & Investments.

The Top 20

The world’s biggest hedge fund by a mile is Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates. At the time of this ranking, Bridgewater managed over $126 billion in assets for clients as wide ranging as university endowment funds, charities, and foreign country’s central banks.

Here’s a closer look at the ranking:

Rank	Hedge Fund	Assets (millions USD)	Headquarters
#1	Bridgewater Associates	$126,400	🇺🇸 U.S.
#2	Man Group	$73,500	🇬🇧 UK
#3	Renaissance Technologies	$57,000	🇺🇸 U.S.
#4	Millennium Management	$54,968	🇺🇸 U.S.
#5	Citadel	$52,970	🇺🇸 U.S.
#6	D.E. Shaw Group	$47,861	🇺🇸 U.S.
#7	Two Sigma Investments/Advisers	$40,969	🇺🇸 U.S.
#8	Davidson Kempner Capital Management	$37,450	🇺🇸 U.S.
#9	Farallon Capital Management	$37,400	🇺🇸 U.S.
#10	TCI Fund Management	$36,200	🇬🇧 UK
#11	Marshall Wace	$34,400	🇬🇧 UK
#12	Ruffer	$31,662	🇬🇧 UK
#13	AOR Capital Management	$28,200	🇺🇸 U.S.
#14	Anchorage Capital Group	$27,100	🇺🇸 U.S.
#15	Baupost Group	$26,300	🇺🇸 U.S.
#16	Point72 Asset Management	$26,100	🇺🇸 U.S.
#17	Capula Investment Management	$25,000	🇬🇧 UK
#18	Wellington Management	$24,968	🇺🇸 U.S.
#19	Brevan Howard Asset Management	$23,353	🇬🇧 UK
#20	PIMCO	$23,054	🇺🇸 U.S.

This annual ranking uses AUM data from June 2022

Overall, 70% of hedge funds are headquartered in North America, with many of the world’s largest based in the United States, specifically.

ℹ️ Hedge funds are essentially pooled investments pulled together by the fund’s clients. The managers then utilize a variety of strategies to produce returns on investments, buying and selling assets such as stocks, commodities, real estate, bonds, and so on. The fund itself makes money by charging fees to their clients and taking a percentage of the profits earned on trading.

The Fastest Growing Hedge Funds

Many of these large hedge funds were new to the top 20 category, having moved up dramatically from the 2021 ranking. Here’s a look at some of the AUM growth rates year-over-year.

Rank	Hedge Fund	Growth in AUM (% Change Y-o-Y)
#1	Brevan Howard Asset Management	46.0%
#2	Citadel	40.8%
#3	PIMCO	25.3%
#4	D.E. Shaw Group	20.4%
#5	Point72 Asset Management	19.7%
#6	Bridgewater Associates	19.6%
#7	Man Group	15.9%
#8	Wellington Management	10.5%
#9	AQR Capital Management	8.0%
#10	Millennium Management	5.1%
#11	Capula Investment Management	4.6%
#12	Marshall Wace	3.9%
#13	Two Sigma Investments/Advisers	3.6%
#14	Davidson Kempner Capital Management	0.3%
#15	Renaissance Technologies	-1.7%
#16	Farallon Capital Management	-1.8%
#17	TCI Fund Management	-9.5%
#18	Anchorage Capital Group	-12.8%
#19	Baupost Group	-15.2%
#20	Ruffer	-

UK-based Brevan Howard jumped from 26th to 19th, witnessing a 46% increase in their assets under management.

Hedge fund growth can be uncorrelated with the broader market, and is not necessarily an indicator of the overall economy. However, analyzing the strategies used by hedge funds and their performance can often provide useful insight for investors.

Where does this data come from?

Source: The Pensions & Investments annual ranking of largest hedge funds.

Source: This ranking uses AUM data from June 2022. This visualization can be used as a consistent snapshot of the size and proportionality of hedge funds. Current AUM for each may very.

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Central Banks

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Public trust in the Federal Reserve chair has hit its lowest point in 20 years. Get the details in this infographic.

Published

1 week ago

May 23, 2023

Marcus Lu

The Briefing

Gallup conducts an annual poll to gauge the U.S. public’s trust in the Federal Reserve
After rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, public trust has fallen to a 20-year low

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Each year, Gallup conducts a survey of American adults on various economic topics, including the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve.

More specifically, respondents are asked how much confidence they have in the current Fed chairman to do or recommend the right thing for the U.S. economy. We’ve visualized these results from 2001 to 2023 to see how confidence levels have changed over time.

Methodology and Results

The data used in this infographic is also listed in the table below. Percentages reflect the share of respondents that have either a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence.

Year	Fed chair	% Great deal or Fair amount
2023	Jerome Powell	36%
2022	Jerome Powell	43%
2021	Jerome Powell	55%
2020	Jerome Powell	58%
2019	Jerome Powell	50%
2018	Jerome Powell	45%
2017	Janet Yellen	45%
2016	Janet Yellen	38%
2015	Janet Yellen	42%
2014	Janet Yellen	37%
2013	Ben Bernanke	42%
2012	Ben Bernanke	39%
2011	Ben Bernanke	41%
2010	Ben Bernanke	44%
2009	Ben Bernanke	49%
2008	Ben Bernanke	47%
2007	Ben Bernanke	50%
2006	Ben Bernanke	41%
2005	Alan Greenspan	56%
2004	Alan Greenspan	61%
2003	Alan Greenspan	65%
2002	Alan Greenspan	69%
2001	Alan Greenspan	74%

Data for 2023 collected April 3-25, with this statement put to respondents: “Please tell me how much confidence you have [in the Fed chair] to recommend the right thing for the economy.”

We can see that trust in the Federal Reserve has fluctuated significantly in recent years.

For example, under Alan Greenspan, trust was initially high due to the relative stability of the economy. The burst of the dotcom bubble—which some attribute to Greenspan’s easy credit policies—resulted in a sharp decline.

On the flip side, public confidence spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was likely due to Jerome Powell’s decisive actions to provide support to the U.S. economy throughout the crisis.

Measures implemented by the Fed include bringing interest rates to near zero, quantitative easing (buying government bonds with newly-printed money), and emergency lending programs to businesses.

Confidence Now on the Decline

After peaking at 58%, those with a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the Fed chair have tumbled to 36%, the lowest number in 20 years.

This is likely due to Powell’s hard stance on fighting post-pandemic inflation, which has involved raising interest rates at an incredible speed. While these rate hikes may be necessary, they also have many adverse effects:

Negative impact on the stock market
Increases the burden for those with variable-rate debts
Makes mortgages and home buying less affordable

Higher rates have also prompted many U.S. tech companies to shrink their workforces, and have been a factor in the regional banking crisis, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Where does this data come from?

Source: Gallup (2023)

Data Notes: Results are based on telephone interviews conducted April 3-25, 2023, with a random sample of –1,013—adults, ages 18+, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on this sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. See source for details.