Citadel outshone by smaller hedge fund rivals in trade war turmoil

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Ken Griffin’s hedge fund Citadel has been outshone by smaller rivals so far this year, as the firm was stung by the market volatility unleashed by Donald Trump’s trade war.

Citadel’s flagship Wellington fund gained 2.5 per cent in the first half of 2025, according to a person familiar with the matter. Balyasny and ExodusPoint were up 7.3 per cent and 9.3 per cent respectively, according to people who have seen the figures.

Citadel, which manages around $66bn, is one of the dominant players among so-called multi-manager funds, a sector that has sucked in billions of dollars from the world’s largest investors. Balyasny and ExodusPoint manage roughly $25bn and $11bn respectively.

Multi-manager firms have legions of trading teams known as “pods”, which trade a variety of strategies in asset classes including equities, fixed income and commodities. They borrow large sums from banks to juice returns and adhere to strict risk management to control losses, making them attractive to big investors such as pension funds that desire stable returns.

Citadel was wrongfooted by Trump’s tariff policies earlier this year, with Griffin telling the Economist in May that the firm had to “tear apart and re-examine the portfolio . . . and ask yourself in what ways we have positioned or mispositioned ourselves against the reality that the odds of a recession have gone higher”.

Last year, Citadel eclipsed most rivals as it delivered 15.1 per cent to investors. It’s annualised net return since the firm was founded 35 years ago is roughly 19.2 per cent.

Griffin, a major Republican donor, has become one of Trump’s most outspoken critics, saying last year that the president’s tariff plans would put the US “on a slippery slope to crony capitalism”.

Meanwhile the flagship Apex strategy of billionaire Cliff Asness’s quant fund AQR was up 11.4 per cent in the first half of the year, according to a person familiar with the numbers.