Bridgewater soars 26% to lead pack of biggest hedge funds

Bridgewater Associates’ flagship macro fund climbed 26.4% in the first nine months of this year as tariff-fueled market uncertainty boosted the firm and its peers.

The hedge fund is on track for its biggest gain since 2010, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the returns aren’t public.

Hedge funds overall have posted strong gains this year, aided by surging US shares and volatility in bond and currency markets spurred by President Donald Trump’s trade wars. The S&P 500 climbed 14% through the third quarter.

Read more: Bridgewater's flagship hedge fund surges amid volatile markets

The previous decade had been tough for Bridgewater and other macro funds as historically low interest rates calmed the market volatility that typically powers gains for those firms. Bridgewater’s Pure Alpha II macro fund posted annualized returns of less than 3% between 2012 and 2024.

A spokesperson for Bridgewater declined to comment on the recent returns. 

The 50-year-old firm has been in reboot mode since Nir Bar Dea became sole chief executive officer in 2023 and made sweeping personnel changes and cut assets in a bid to boost performance. Westport, Connecticut-based Bridgewater’s billionaire founder, Ray Dalio, has completely exited the firm, selling his remaining stake and stepping off the board earlier this year.

In January, the firm elevated veteran macro trader Ben Melkman, a rare outsider, to the role of deputy chief investment officer.  

Melkman shares that role with firm insiders David Trinh and Blake Cecil.

He was hired last year and was among the first — and most high-profile — managers to join the insular firm from a competitor. While Bridgewater is a systemic macro fund that uses what it calls “timeless and universal” algorithmic rules to determine trades, Melkman’s style has historically been more freewheeling.

Read more: Ray Dalio's 'all weather' strategy makes ETF debut

After seven years at Brevan Howard Asset Management, where he was a partner, he formed his own hedge fund, Light Sky Macro, in 2017. Melkman closed that firm five years later and joined Schonfeld Strategic Advisors before decamping for Bridgewater less than a year later.

By contrast, the firm’s three co-CIOs have spent most or all of their careers at Bridgewater. Bob Prince was hired in 1986, and Greg Jensen and Karen Karniol-Tambour joined right out of college. Melkman’s co-deputy CIOs also have little or no work experience elsewhere. 

Jensen also runs a fund started in 2024 that uses machine learning and AI to make investment decisions. It’s up 6.5% this year, according to a person familiar with its performance. The firm’s Asia Total Return fund climbed 32% through September, while the China Total Return fund has gained 28.9%. 

Bridgewater managed $92 billion as of Dec. 31, down from almost $140 billion in early 2023. 

Here’s how other hedge funds have fared this year:

**Through 9/26

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