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Ranked: The World’s 20 Biggest Hedge Funds

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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:

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

RankHedge FundGrowth in AUM (% Change Y-o-Y)
#1Brevan Howard Asset Management46.0%
#2Citadel40.8%
#3PIMCO25.3%
#4D.E. Shaw Group20.4%
#5Point72 Asset Management19.7%
#6Bridgewater Associates19.6%
#7Man Group15.9%
#8Wellington Management10.5%
#9AQR Capital Management8.0%
#10Millennium Management5.1%
#11Capula Investment Management4.6%
#12Marshall Wace3.9%
#13Two Sigma Investments/Advisers 3.6%
#14Davidson Kempner Capital Management0.3%
#15Renaissance Technologies-1.7%
#16Farallon Capital Management-1.8%
#17TCI Fund Management-9.5%
#18Anchorage Capital Group-12.8%
#19Baupost Group-15.2%
#20Ruffer-

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.

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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.

YearFed chair% Great deal or Fair amount
2023Jerome Powell36%
2022Jerome Powell43%
2021Jerome Powell55%
2020Jerome Powell58%
2019Jerome Powell50%
2018Jerome Powell45%
2017Janet Yellen45%
2016Janet Yellen38%
2015Janet Yellen42%
2014Janet Yellen37%
2013Ben Bernanke42%
2012Ben Bernanke39%
2011Ben Bernanke41%
2010Ben Bernanke44%
2009Ben Bernanke49%
2008Ben Bernanke47%
2007Ben Bernanke50%
2006Ben Bernanke41%
2005Alan Greenspan56%
2004Alan Greenspan61%
2003Alan Greenspan65%
2002Alan Greenspan69%
2001Alan Greenspan74%

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.

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