FAIRFIELD, IOWA  NOVEMBER 29, 2021

Hedge fund industry assets continued to grow in September with $10.2 billion in monthly inflows. September’s inflows represented an increase of 0.22% of industry assets, according to the Barclay Fund Flow Indicator published by BarclayHedge, a division of Backstop Solutions.

September was the seventh straight month of hedge fund inflows, a period during which the industry attracted $154.0 billion in new assets. A $49.7 billion trading loss on the month brought total hedge fund industry assets under management to $4.53 trillion as September ended.

“While the uptrend in Hedge Fund popularity can be clearly observed across geographic boundaries, a look at subsector trends over the trailing twelve months reveals that not every fund is a ‘belle of the ball’”, commented Ben Crawford, Head of Research at BarclayHedge.  “In point of fact, the subsectors are clearly divided between the ‘belles’ and the ‘wallflowers, wicked step-sisters and the like’. A look inside of these subsectors reveals even more vividly that this extraordinary time has both had both big winners and big losers.”

Some two-thirds of hedge fund subsectors tracked experienced inflows in September. Sector Specific funds attracted $2.5 billion, 0.7% of assets, Fixed Income funds added $2.4 billion, 0.2% of assets, Multi-Strategy Funds saw $1.8 billion in inflows, 0.4% of assets, Equity Long/Short funds brought in $1.6 billion, 0.9% of assets, and Merger Arbitrage funds experienced $1.3 billion in inflows, 1.5% of assets.

Among the subsectors experiencing net redemptions in September were Emerging Markets – Latin America funds shedding -$1.3 billion, -11.3% of assets, Macro funds with -$893.0 million in outflows, -0.4% of assets, Emerging Markets – Global funds with -$671.2 million in redemptions, -0.3% of assets, and Option Strategies funds with -$385.9 million in outflows, -0.8% of assets.

The managed futures industry experienced a second straight month of net redemptions in September, reporting $641.6 million in outflows. Three of four CTA subsectors tracked posted inflows for the month, however. Hybrid CTAs added $204.1 million, 1.1% of assets, Multi Advisor Futures Funds brought in nearly $116.0 million, 0.9% of assets, and Discretionary CTAs saw $59.9 million in inflows, 0.4% of assets. Systematic CTAs were alone for the month with -$905.6 million in redemptions, for a reduction of -0.3% in assets.

12-Month Flow Trends

For the 12 months through September the global hedge fund industry experienced $194.4 billion in inflows. A $368.4 billion trading profit over the period brought total industry assets to the $4.53 trillion figure as September ended, up from $4.52 trillion at the end of August and up from $3.41 trillion a year earlier.

Eleven of the 19 hedge fund subsectors tracked posted 12-month inflows through September. Fixed Income funds led the list of subsectors attracting new assets adding $79.5 billion, 10.3% of assets, while Sector Specific funds saw $56.8 billion in inflows, 25.3% of assets, and Multi-Strategy funds brought in $28.5 billion, 8.2% of assets.

Other subsectors with notable inflows included Event Driven funds which brought in $25.7 billion, 14.0% of assets, Emerging Markets – Asia funds adding $20.9 billion, 16.2% of assets, and Equity Long-Only funds with $14.4 billion in inflows, 9.7% of assets.

Subsectors with the largest 12-month outflows included Balanced (Stocks & Bonds) funds with -$25.4 billion in redemptions, -5.4% of assets, Equity Long Bias funds shedding -$14.9 billion, -4.6% of assets, Macro funds with -$12.7 billion in outflows, -7.1% of assets, Equity Market Neutral funds with -$4.8 billion in redemptions, -7.9% of assets, and Equity Long/Short funds with -$1.8 billion in outflows, -1.1% of assets.

Over the 12-month period through September the managed futures industry experienced $8.0 billion in inflows. A $27.9 billion trading profit over the period contributed to the industry’s total assets of $343.0 billion at month’s end, up from $303.6 billion a year earlier.

All four CTA subsectors continued to post net inflows for the 12-month period. Systematic CTAs added $3.1 billion through September, 1.1% of assets, Discretionary CTAs also brought in $3.1 billion, 26.4% of assets, Hybrid CTAs added $1.9 billion, 21.1% of assets, and Multi Advisor Futures Funds saw $891.3 million in inflows, 7.8% of assets.

About Backstop Solutions

Backstop’s mission is to help the institutional investment industry use time to its fullest potential. We develop technology to simplify and streamline otherwise time-consuming tasks and processes, enabling our clients to quickly and easily access, share and manage the knowledge that’s critical to their day-to-day business success. Backstop provides its industry-leading cloud-based productivity suite to investment consultants, pensions, funds of funds, family offices, endowments, foundations, private equity, hedge funds and real estate investment firms.

BarclayHedge, a division of Backstop, currently maintains data on more than 6,900 hedge funds, funds of funds and CTAs. Institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks worldwide utilize BarclayHedge indices as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Janet Falk 

(212) 677 5770

Janet@Janetlfalk.com