Hedge fund strategy statistics show a $4.53 trillion global industry at the end of 1Q25, with relative value arbitrage, equity hedge, and event-driven strategies each above $1 trillion in reported capital. Performance and flows varied substantially by strategy and measurement period.
Contents
- Industry size and measurement
- Equity hedge and event-driven strategies
- Macro and relative value
- Returns by strategy
- Capital flows and manager size
- Leverage and borrowing
- Manager confidence and historical context
Industry size and measurement
Hedge fund strategy statistics depend on the index family, weighting method, and period being measured. HFR calculates more than 500 hedge fund performance indices across industry aggregates, strategies, and niche sub-strategy levels. HFR operates 13 index families for hedge fund and alternative-strategy benchmarking. Its database covers more than 5,700 investment products and over 1,650 unique firms. These coverage figures are reported by HFR on its website.
The industry reached $4.30 trillion in capital in 1Q24, according to the HFR Global Hedge Fund Industry Report dated April 22, 2024. Capital rose by nearly $190 billion quarter over quarter. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index gained 4.5% in 1Q24, while the HFRI Asset Weighted Composite Index gained 5.12%.
By 4Q24, total global hedge fund capital had reached $4.51 trillion, according to the HFR Global Hedge Fund Industry Report dated January 24, 2025. That was a $53.5 billion quarter-over-quarter increase, and full-year 2024 capital increased by $401.4 billion. In 1Q25, total global hedge fund capital ended at $4.53 trillion, up $12.6 billion quarter over quarter, according to the HFR Global Hedge Fund Industry Report dated April 25, 2025.
The direction of capital did not always match the direction of returns. HFR reported a $12.57 billion net outflow in 4Q24, but full-year 2024 net inflows were $10.47 billion. In 1Q25, flows turned to a $12.6 billion net inflow. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index declined 0.5% in 1Q25, while the Asset Weighted Composite Index advanced 0.6%.
Equity hedge and event-driven strategies
Equity hedge capital increased by nearly $70 billion in 1Q24 and reached a record $1.25 trillion. Net investor inflows were $8.5 billion. Within that category, EH: Fundamental Value capital increased by $37.0 billion to $706.8 billion. These figures come from the HFR Global Hedge Fund Industry Report dated April 22, 2024.
Event-driven capital increased by nearly $49 billion in 1Q24 to $1.21 trillion, with net investor inflows of $8.0 billion. ED: Special Situations assets increased by $17 billion, while ED: Shareholder Activist assets increased by $13.4 billion. The HFRI Event-Driven (Total) Index gained 2.5%; its Asset Weighted Index gained 3.9%; and the HFRI ED: Activist Index surged 6.1% in the same quarter.
The picture changed in 1Q25. Equity hedge capital increased by $1.78 billion to $1.31 trillion, and the strategy received $5.0 billion of net inflows. Multi-strategy funds added $4.0 billion of equity hedge capital. The HFRI Equity Hedge (Total) Index—Asset Weighted gained 0.04%, while the HFRI EH: Equity Market Neutral Index gained 1.5%.
Event-driven capital declined by $20.4 billion in 1Q25 even as the strategy recorded $2.4 billion of net inflows and ended at $1.26 trillion. Credit Arbitrage assets increased by $2.3 billion. The HFRI Event-Driven (Total) Index—Asset Weighted declined 0.26%, while the HFRI ED: Credit Arbitrage Index gained 1.2%. The HFR figures are from the April 25, 2025 industry report.
For a full-year comparison, the HFRI Equity Hedge (Total) Index gained 12.0% in 2024. The HFRI Event-Driven Index (Asset Weighted) gained 11.6%, according to the HFR Global Hedge Fund Industry Report dated January 24, 2025.
Macro and relative value
Macro strategy capital increased by $44.8 billion in 1Q24 and reached $715 billion. Net inflows were $1.7 billion. Systematic Diversified CTA assets increased by $28.1 billion. During the quarter, the HFRI Macro (Total) Index gained 6.2%, its Asset Weighted version gained 7.15%, and the HFRI Macro: Systematic Diversified Index surged 9.4%. The HFRI Trend Following Index gained 8.1%.
Macro capital reached $720.2 billion in 1Q25 after increasing by $8.9 billion. Net inflow was nearly $1 billion, and Discretionary Thematic Macro assets increased by $7.2 billion. The HFRI Macro: Discretionary Thematic Index gained 5.1%. For 1Q25, the HFRI Macro Index (Asset Weighted) gained 0.5%. These figures are from HFR’s April 25, 2025 report.
Relative value arbitrage, or RVA, capital increased by $25.8 billion in 1Q24 and reached $1.13 trillion. Multi-Strategy funds added $17.2 billion to RVA assets and ended the quarter with $692 billion of RVA capital. The HFRI Relative Value (Total) Index gained 2.5%, while the HFRI RV: Convertible Arbitrage Index gained 4.0%.
RVA capital increased by $20.5 billion in 4Q24 to $1.22 trillion. Multi-Strategy funds ended that quarter with $748.2 billion of RVA capital. The HFRI Relative Value (Total) Index advanced 8.7% in 2024, posting 14 consecutive monthly gains by year-end and remaining positive in 27 of the trailing 30 months. In 1Q25, RVA capital increased by $22.4 billion to $1.24 trillion, with $4.4 billion of net inflows. Multi-Strategy funds ended the quarter with $760.3 billion of RVA capital.
The HFRI Relative Value (Total) Index gained 1.7% in 1Q25. HFR reported that the index had a 16-month winning streak before a -0.08% dip in March 2025. The 2024 HFRI Multi-Manager/Pod Shop Index gained 6.8%.
| Strategy or index | Capital or return | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Equity Hedge capital | $1.31 trillion | 1Q25 |
| Event-Driven capital | $1.26 trillion | 1Q25 |
| Relative Value Arbitrage capital | $1.24 trillion | 1Q25 |
| Macro capital | $720.2 billion | 1Q25 |
| HFRI Relative Value (Total) Index | +8.7% | 2024 |
| HFRI Macro: Systematic Diversified Index | +9.4% | 1Q24 |
Returns by strategy
The HFR Global Hedge Fund Industry Report dated January 24, 2025 reported a 9.8% gain for the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index in 2024. The HFR Cryptocurrency Index gained 59.1% in 2024, after gaining 47.9% in 1Q24 and recording a trailing six-month return of 106.9% in 1Q24. These cryptocurrency figures describe the HFR index and should not be read as the return of every cryptocurrency-focused fund.
Preqin annual performance data presented in AIMA’s Hedge Fund Confidence Index Q4 2024 reported all-hedge-fund returns of 14.05% in 2017, -3.04% in 2018, 13.23% in 2019, 19.22% in 2020, 15.14% in 2021, -7.35% in 2022, and 13.98% in 2023. The same presentation reported a 12.65% 2024 year-to-date return. The 2024 figure is explicitly year to date, not a completed full-year result.
Preqin’s 2017 strategy figures were 17.13% for equity, 7.62% for macro, 10.95% for event-driven, 7.45% for credit, 5.21% for relative value, and 10.82% for multi-strategy. For 2024 year to date, the corresponding figures were 11.45%, 8.88%, 8.73%, 7.99%, 9.41%, and 10.29%.
The 1Q25 HFR results were more mixed than the 2024 annual figures. The Asset Weighted Composite gained 0.6%, while the Fund Weighted Composite fell 0.5%. Relative value gained 1.7%, Macro Asset Weighted gained 0.5%, Multi-Manager/Pod Shop gained 1.6%, and Long Volatility gained 2.1%. Event-driven Asset Weighted declined 0.26%, while Equity Hedge Asset Weighted gained 0.04%.
Capital flows and manager size
HFR’s 1Q25 data also separates flows by manager size. Firms managing more than $5 billion received $7.0 billion of inflows. Firms managing $1 billion to $5 billion received $1.4 billion, and firms managing less than $1 billion received $4.0 billion. These categories describe reported 1Q25 inflows and are not estimates of the number of firms in each size group.
Strategy-level flows also varied. Equity Hedge received $5.0 billion, RVA received $4.4 billion, Event-Driven received $2.4 billion, and Macro received nearly $1 billion in 1Q25. Capital changes can differ from investor flows because reported assets also reflect performance and other changes in asset levels. The Event-Driven example illustrates that distinction: the strategy had $2.4 billion of net inflows but a $20.4 billion decline in capital during the quarter.
Leverage and borrowing
The FSOC 2024 Annual Report reported substantial increases in leverage and borrowing between 2Q19 and 2Q24. Macro strategy balance-sheet leverage rose from 4.1x to 6.7x, while multi-strategy balance-sheet leverage rose from 2.6x to 4.2x. Macro gross exposures to net assets rose from 23.3x to 43.6x, and multi-strategy gross exposures rose from 9.2x to 15.9x.
Hedge fund borrowing totaled $5.1 trillion in 2Q24 and rose 54% from 3Q22 to 2Q24, according to the FSOC report. Prime brokerage borrowing increased by approximately $740 billion over that period, while repo borrowing increased by $1.1 trillion. Repo borrowing by the 10 largest hedge funds rose from $588 billion in 3Q22 to $1.3 trillion in 2Q24.
Leveraged funds’ net short Treasury futures position reached $1.1 trillion in September 2024, nearly double the pre-COVID peak. The same FSOC report said the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index gained 8.2% through the first nine months of 2024. Leverage and performance are separate measures: a higher exposure figure does not by itself establish a higher return.
Manager confidence and historical context
In AIMA’s Hedge Fund Confidence Index for Q4 2024, managers’ overall confidence was +18.8. Ninety-three percent of respondents said they were confident in their fund’s ability to perform, and 86% cited fundraising confidence as a positive factor. Cost management was a drag for 20% of respondents; the figure was 16% among larger managers and 12% among smaller managers.
Confidence differed by strategy and geography. Multi-strategy confidence rose from +17.8 in Q3 2024 to +18.3 in Q4 2024. Global macro confidence stood at +18.5, down 2.3 points quarter over quarter, while long-short equity confidence fell by 6.2 points. North America’s confidence score was +20.0, APAC’s was +17.0, and the UK’s was reported as +18.0. AIMA also reported the UK’s score falling from +21.4 in Q3 to +18.1 in Q4; the two UK figures reflect the report’s rounded and more precise presentations.
Positive confidence scores were reported by 89% of North American respondents, 86% of APAC respondents, and 79% of UK respondents. Smaller managers’ performance confidence moved from 96% to 98% in Q4 2024, while larger managers’ performance confidence moved from 89% to 88%.
These statistics combine HFR, FSOC, AIMA, and Preqin measures with different definitions, index constructions, and dates. Legacy research figures are presented with their original source labels and scope; they were not independently verified here. Comparing them is useful for context, but the periods, weighting methods, and coverage should remain explicit.