Hedge fund industry redemptions continued in March with $18.31 billion in net outflows, representing 0.37% of industry assets, according to the Barclay Fund Flow Indicator published by Backstop BarclayHedge. 

Hedge fund industry redemptions continued in March with $18.31 billion in net outflows, representing 0.37% of industry assets, according to the Barclay Fund Flow Indicator published by Backstop BarclayHedge. 

A $30.68 billion trading profit during the month brought total hedge fund industry assets to $5.03 trillion as March ended. 

While a solid majority of hedge fund subsectors reported net redemptions in March, a group of strategies picked up new assets led by Event Driven funds which added +$9.12 billion (+3.71% of sector assets).

Other beneficiaries were: Convertible Arbitrage funds +$439.52 Million (+1.20% of sector assets); Option Strategies funds +$324.53 Million (+0.68% of sector assets); Equity Market Neutral funds +$258.25 million (+0.51% of sector assets); and Distressed Securities funds +$9.32 million (+0.07% of sector assets). 

Among the hedge fund sectors that saw net divestment activity in March, the hardest hit in absolute terms was Balanced (Stocks & Bonds) funds which gave back -$5.11 billion (-0.67% of sector assets), while the gravest blow in relative terms was absorbed by Merger Arbitrage funds which shed -$3.86 billion (-3.39% of sector assets). 

Significant net redemption activity was also seen among the following hedge fund subsectors: Multi-Strategy funds -$3.21 Billion (-0.46% of sector assets); Fixed Income funds -$3.06 Billion (-0.33% of sector assets); Equity Long-Only funds -$2.22 Billion (-0.49% of sector assets); Equity Long/Short funds -$2.11 Billion (-1.35% of sector assets); Macro funds -$2.05 Billion (-1.10% of sector assets). 

The managed futures industry also struggled in March as investors redeemed -$2.33 billion more than they subscribed, a reduction of -0.64% of industry assets.  

Only Discretionary CTAs managed to pick up net inflows for the month, advancing by +$152.76 million (+0.49% of sector assets).

Asset attrition was greatest in both absolute and relative terms in the Systematic CTA sector where redemptions outweighed subscriptions by -$2.44 Billion (-0.77% of sector assets).

Multi-Advisor Futures Funds and Hybrid CTAs meanwhile, lost -$77.2 million (-0.41% of sector assets) and -$36.07 million (-0.17% of sector assets), respectively.