Hedge fund redemptions accelerated in March totalling -$35.37 billion (-0.70% of industry assets), according to the Barclay Fund Flow Indicator published by BarclayHedge, a division of Backstop Solutions.

An $18.24 billion trading gain for the month combined with new entrants to push total hedge fund industry assets to $5.14 trillion as March ended.

A majority of hedge fund subsectors tracked posted net redemptions in March. Subsectors bucking the redemption trend to post monthly inflows were led by Multi-Strategy funds, adding $3.89 billion. Others subsectors attracting new assets during the month included Sector Specific funds with $2.31 billion in inflows; Merger Arbitrage funds adding $2.08 billion; and Option Strategies funds bringing in $331.8 million.

Subsectors contributing to the hedge fund industry’s monthly redemption total included Fixed Income funds with -$14.35 billion in outflows; Equity Long/Short funds shedding -$14.04 billion; Emerging Markets – Global funds with -$3.90 billion in redemptions; Balanced (Stocks & Bonds) funds seeing -$3.28 billion exit; and Equity Long-Only funds with -$2.33 billion in outflows.

The managed futures industry posted a second consecutive month of inflows bringing in $2.09 billion in March. All four CTA subsectors reported net inflows in March. Systematic CTAs led the way adding $1.51 billion (+0.47% of assets), while Discretionary CTAs brought in $517.51 million (+2.91% of assets), Multi Advisor Futures Funds saw $289.87 million in inflows (+2.10% of assets), and Hybrid CTAs added $67.87 million (+0.34% of assets).

For the 12 months through March, the global hedge fund industry experienced $132.88 billion in net inflows. A sustained run of inflows, retained earnings and new industry entrants pushed the industry’s total AUM past the $5.14 trillion figure as March ended, up from $5.04 trillion in February and up from $4.18 trillion a year earlier.

Multi-Strategy funds continued to lead the group of hedge fund subsectors posting 12-month net inflows as March ended adding $51.09 billion (+13.02% of assets). Elsewhere Sector Specific funds were up $27.71 billion (+8.46% of assets); Fixed Income funds added $22.26 billion (+2.49% of assets); Balanced (Stocks & Bonds) funds brought in $19.67 billion (+3.51% of assets); Merger Arbitrage funds saw $12.98 billion (+15.55% of assets); and Equity Long-Only funds added $11.16 billion (+4.87% of assets).

Hedge fund subsectors seeing 12-month net redemptions included Emerging Markets – Global funds with -$10.21 billion in outflows (-5.63% of assets); Equity Long/Short funds shedding -$7.77 billion (- 4.70% of assets); Macro funds with -$7.40 billion in redemptions (-3.84% of assets); Equity Long Bias funds with -$4.77 billion exiting (-1.32% of assets); and Emerging Markets – Latin America funds with -$1.50 billion in redemptions (-13.40% of assets).

Over the 12-month period through March the managed futures industry experienced $2.58 billion in inflows. A $38.52 billion trading profit contributed to the industry’s $359.97 billion in total assets, up from $319.03 billion a year earlier.

Three of four managed futures subsectors posted inflows over the 12-month period. Discretionary CTAs added $3.29 billion (22.56% of assets), Multi Advisor Futures Funds brought in $1.56 billion, (+13.70% of assets), and Hybrid CTAs saw $1.47 billion in inflows, (+8.48% of assets).

Systematic CTAs remained the lone managed futures subsector experiencing 12-month redemptions with $2.25 billion (+0.77% of assets).