Hedge funds' first-quarter returns are rolling in. Here's how big names fared in choppy markets.

Dmitry Balyasny's firm lost money in the first quarter of 2026. Balyasny 2026-04-01T17:18:54.331Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Impact Link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. Hedge funds such as Schonfeld and North Rock were up in the first quarter of 2026. Meanwhile, managers, including Balyasny and LMR, lost money thanks to rocky market conditions. Most funds have outperformed the S&P 500, which lost 4.6% in the first quarter. AI-generated summary Summaries are generated by an AI model trained on Business Insider's articles. AI may make mistakes or provide inaccurate/incomplete information. We're unable to load that answer right now. Please try again. What are multistrategy funds? What are the key challenges for hedge funds? What factors led to the S&P 500 downturn? How do geopolitical events impact hedge funds? How do tariffs affect global markets? For the second year in a row, March wasn't pretty for many big-name hedge funds. Loading audio narration... Dmitry Balyasny's eponymous manager was down 4.3% on the month, a person close to the firm told Business Insider. For the year, the $33 billion firm is down 3.8%. Michael Gelband's ExodusPoint, which is more fixed-income-focused than its peers, was down 4.5% in March. London-based hedge fund LMR Partners lost 2.4% in its multistrategy fund. Some firms were able to mitigate the damage.Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, now $19 billion in total assets, was flat in March and is up 0.9% for the year, a person close to the New York-based manager told Business Insider. Meanwhile, Dymon Asia and Pinpoint Asset Management — a pair of Asia-based multistrategy firms — lost 4.3% and 2.5% in the month, respectively, but are still positive for the year.It's been a chaotic start to the year for hedge funds and others trading global markets, thanks again to President Donald Trump and his administration. In 2025, following his inauguration, Trump sent markets reeling with widespread tariffs that upended global trade and stung big-name funds. This year, it's been the strikes on Iran by American and Israeli forces that have global economies in turmoil and investment managers in the red.For example, many macro funds were hurt in March thanks to a bet that short-term interest rates in the UK and Europe would fall soon. With inflation expected to rise due to higher energy prices stemming from the conflict in the Middle East, this trade backfired on many seasoned investors. Earlier in the first quarter, there was also a significant sell-off of software stocks, driven by the perceived advances of artificial intelligence tools from hot start-ups like Anthropic. Investor uneasiness and shaky geopolitics led to the worst quarter for the S&P 500 since 2022, with the index down 4.6%.Multistrategy funds spread the money they manage across a variety of investment teams running diverse strategies with the goal of delivering consistent returns regardless of the market environment. This subset has dominated industry chatter in recent years, thanks to eye-popping compensation figures given out to top traders by funds managing more capital than ever before.The firms mentioned declined to comment. The table below will be updated as additional figures are learned. FundMarch performance2026 performanceDymon Asia-4.3%6%Pinpoint Asset Management-2.5%4%North Rock-0.7%2.1%Schonfeld Partners0%0.9%LMR-2.4%-0.3%ExodusPoint-4.5%-2%Walleye-1.3%-2.6%Balyasny-4.3%-3.8%