The total Value of Assets Managed by Hedge Fonds Jumped by 78% in Five Years and Hit $5.13 Trillion

The global hedge fund industry has shown impressive resilience over the past five years. The total value of assets managed by hedge funds continued growing despite COVID-19, inflation, macroeconomic challenges, and increasing geopolitical stability, hitting an all-time high last year.

According to data presented by Stocklytics.com, the total value of assets managed by hedge funds hit $5.13 trillion in 2023, showing a massive 78% increase in five years.

Market Growth Slowed Down After 2021 Peak, but Total AUM Still Jumped by $304 Billion in a Year

The global hedge fund market has seen ups and downs over the past two decades. After the industry boomed in the 1990s, the value of assets managed by hedge funds grew steadily until 2007, when the financial crisis hit. A year later, the value plunged by almost 40% and did not recover until 2013. Since then, the market has been on the up, with 2018 as the only exception.

According to Statista and Barclay Hedge data, in 2018, the total value of assets under the management of hedge funds dropped by $27 billion and hit $2.87 trillion. However, just a year later, it jumped to almost $3.2 trillion, showing a $316 billion increase year-over-year.

But 2020 and 2021 brought even much bigger growth. As more and more investors started seeing that hedge fund strategies can be a valuable tool for reducing portfolio risks, the total value of assets managed by hedge funds first jumped by $631 billion in 2020 and then soared by almost one trillion dollars in 2021, reaching close to $4.8 trillion at the end of the year. Also, the market saw three consecutive years of a double-digit performance for the first time since the late nineties.

After a considerable slowdown in 2022, the hedge fund market again gained momentum in 2023 but still grew much slower than in previous years. Statistics show the total value of assets under the management of hedge funds jumped by $304 billion last year, helping the market to reach an all-time high of over $5.13 trillion.

Five Largest Hedge Funds Manage more than $1.2 Trillion

Last year, there were roughly 8,000 hedge funds, practically the same number as a decade ago, but they managed nearly three times more assets. In this competitive landscape, a few industry giants stand out.

Field Street Capital Management was the biggest among them, managing nearly $298 billion in assets. Citadel Investment Group closely followed with $253 billion worth of assets, roughly $18 billion more than the third-ranked Bridgewater Associates. The Mariner Investment Group and Millennium Capital Partners were also prominent players, managing over $200 billion worth of assets.

According to HedgeList data, these five hedge funds alone managed over $1.2 trillion, or 23% of the total value of assets in 2023.