• Big-name hedge funds mostly had strong years, led by managers such as Michael Gelband’s ExodusPoint and D.E. Shaw.
• It was a choppy year for funds, which battled markets strained by geopolitical stress from tariffs and international conflicts.
• Most funds still trailed the S&P 500’s 16.4% return on the year, however.

Artificial intelligence spikes and sell-offs, market-rattling tariffs from the world’s largest economy, mysterious quant losses — hedge funds battled a lot in 2025.

When the dust settled, the biggest names in the $5 trillion industry posted strong numbers last year.

Michael Gelband’s ExodusPoint, which was the largest launch in industry history in 2018, had its best year on record, a person close to the New York-based manager told Business Insider. The firm was up 18% for the year after posting a 2.1% return in December.

Balyasny, Dmitry Balyasny’s $31 billion manager, made 16.7% in 2025, a person familiar with the firm’s returns said. D.E. Shaw’s flagship multistrategy fund, Composite, was up 18.5%.

These funds, along with Ari Glass’s Boothbay and AQR’s $6.8 billion multistrategy Apex fund, bested the S&P 500’s 16.4% gain on the year, and many managers put up returns in the mid-teens that only slightly trailed the index.

Some of the industry’s biggest firms have lagged smaller peers throughout last year, as Business Insider reported. Izzy Englander’s $83.5 billion Millennium, for example, was up 10.5% in 2025, following a 1.9% gain last month, according to a person close to the manager.

The managers in the table below declined to comment. Returns will be added as they are learned.