April was a difficult month in the financial markets, with the aggregate industry return at -1.68% for the month, dragging year to date (YTD) returns further into the red at -2.59%, according to the April 2022 eVestment hedge fund performance data.

April was a difficult month in the financial markets, with the aggregate industry return at -1.68% for the month, dragging year to date (YTD) returns further into the red at -2.59%, according to the April 2022 eVestment hedge fund performance data.

However, the hedge fund business still performed better than many other industry benchmarks and among those funds that did perform well, some performed exceptionally well.
 
The average return of -1.68% is a result of just 36% of the funds eVestment tracks producing positive results in April and the difference between average gain (+3.7%) and average loss (-4.7%) was the largest in 17 months.

Managed Futures funds followed one of their best monthly returns on record in March with another strategy-leading return of +3.73% in April. The universe’s average 2022 YTD return of +13.55% is now more than two times the next best performing strategy (Macro, +6.60%). The largest products in the space have continued to outperform as well. 

The 10 largest reporting managed futures strategies had an aggregate return of +4.97% in April and are now at +16.10% YTD.