The Largest Hedge Funds in the World
Bridgewater Associates is the largest hedge fund firm in the world at about $78 billion, narrowly ahead of AQR, Millennium, and Elliott. In 2025 the industry passed $5 trillion for the first time after its strongest year since 2009.
Largest: Bridgewater (~$78B) · Industry capital: $5.15T (record) · 2025 HFRI return: +12.5%
A hedge fund pools capital from institutional investors and wealthy individuals and trades across public markets — equities, credit, macro, and derivatives — using leverage, short-selling, and other techniques to pursue returns in any environment, charging a management fee plus a share of profits. As of 2025, Bridgewater Associates is the largest by hedge-fund assets at about $78 billion, narrowly ahead of AQR, Millennium, and Elliott.
A ranking of hedge funds turns entirely on how you count. The figures below are hedge-fund-only assets, net of leverage, from With Intelligence's mid-2025 survey — not the gross "regulatory AUM" seen on aggregator sites, which inflates multi-manager firms four or five times over. Several names — BlackRock, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Wellington, PIMCO — are predominantly long-only managers whose hedge-fund sleeves alone clear $30 billion; they appear here on that sleeve, not their firm-wide trillions. The note column flags each firm's style and, where relevant, its far larger parent.
2025 was the industry's best year in over a decade. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite returned 12.5%, industry capital grew a record $642.8 billion to $5.15 trillion, and managers earned a record $543 billion net of fees for investors, per HFR and LCH Investments. Chris Hohn's TCI led every manager with a single-year gain of $18.9 billion, the largest ever. The economics keep concentrating: the 20 most profitable firms hold 16.6% of assets but account for 41% of all-time net gains. Every firm below links to its Altss profile, where strategy, leadership, and filings are tracked.
The largest hedge funds in 2026, by the numbers
- Global hedge fund capital passed $5 trillion for the first time, ending 2025 at a record $5.15 trillion, per HFR. A broader Nasdaq eVestment count put the figure at $5.7 trillion.
- The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite returned 12.5% in 2025 — the strongest calendar year since 2009 and a second straight double-digit year.
- Managers made a record $543 billion net of fees for investors in 2025, per LCH Investments. TCI Fund Management led with a $18.9 billion gain, the largest annual dollar gain ever by a single manager.
- Concentration is extreme: the 20 most profitable firms made $115.8 billion net in 2025 and account for 41% of all hedge-fund gains ever, while managing just 16.6% of industry assets.
- Citadel remains the most profitable hedge fund in history, with about $90.4 billion in cumulative net gains since 1990; Bridgewater's flagship Pure Alpha returned roughly 33% in 2025.
- Multi-strategy "pod shops" — Millennium, Citadel, Point72, Balyasny — added more assets than equity funds for the first time in the 2025 survey, cementing their dominance of the industry's largest tier.
Largest hedge funds by AUM
Hedge-fund AUM as of June 30, 2025 (With Intelligence Billion Dollar Club)
Ordered by hedge-fund-only assets under management, net of leverage — not gross regulatory AUM. For firms that also run large long-only books (Man Group, AQR, BlackRock, GSAM, Wellington, PIMCO), the figure is the hedge-fund sleeve; the far larger firm-wide total is noted.
| # | Firm | Hedge-fund AUM | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bridgewater AssociatesMacro / risk-parity (Pure Alpha, All Weather); the world's largest hedge fund firm. Pure Alpha returned about 33% in 2025. | $78B | Westport, United States |
| 2 | AQR Capital ManagementSystematic/quant factor investing; firm-wide AUM is $130-142B including long-only, so this is the hedge-fund slice. Apex returned about 19.6% in 2025. | $77.6B | Greenwich, United States |
| 3 | Millennium ManagementMulti-strategy pod shop with about 330 investment teams; flagship returned around 10.5% in 2025, growing to roughly $83.5B later in the year. | $77.5B | New York, United States |
| 4 | Elliott ManagementActivist / multi-strategy / distressed; made about $5.7B net for investors in 2025, lifting cumulative gains since 1977 to roughly $59.5B. | $76.1B | West Palm Beach, United States |
| 5 | TCI Fund ManagementConcentrated long-biased activist equity (Chris Hohn); topped all managers in 2025 with a record $18.9B net gain. | $70B | London, United Kingdom |
| 6 | Man GroupListed manager (AHL/GLG/Numeric); hedge-fund sleeve is $66.5B, but record firm-wide AUM hit $193.3B in 2025 including systematic long-only. | $66.5B | London, United Kingdom |
| 7 | CitadelMulti-strategy (Ken Griffin); flagship Wellington returned about 10.2% in 2025. The most profitable hedge fund ever, ~$90.4B cumulative net gains since 1990. | $66.0B | Miami, United States |
| 8 | D.E. Shaw & Co.Quant/systematic plus discretionary macro; the Composite returned about 18.5% and Oculus 28.2% in 2025, ~$12.7B net for investors. | $65.8B | New York, United States |
| 9 | Two SigmaQuant and machine-learning driven; among the fastest asset-gatherers of 2025. Some surveys count it materially lower on different inclusion rules. | $64.8B | New York, United States |
| 10 | BlackRockHedge-fund sleeve (systematic and fundamental) within the world's largest asset manager (~$11.5T firm-wide); ranks here only on its liquid-alternatives book. | $55.8B | New York, United States |
| 11 | Adage Capital ManagementLong/short equity firm spun out of the Harvard endowment in 2001; low-profile but among the largest single-strategy equity hedge funds. | $49.0B | Boston, United States |
| 12 | Goldman Sachs Asset ManagementHedge-fund and liquid-alternatives sleeve (multi-strategy, credit, macro) within GSAM's $3T+ platform. | $48.0B | New York, United States |
| 13 | Renaissance TechnologiesQuant pioneer; the legendary Medallion fund is employee-only, so this reflects the external funds (RIEF, RIDA, RIDGE). | $46.0B | East Setauket, United States |
| 14 | Marshall WaceEquity long/short and systematic (Eureka, TOPS); KKR is a minority owner. Moved to return ~$3.1B to investors in late 2025 to curb growth. | $43.0B | London, United Kingdom |
| 15 | Point72 Asset ManagementSteve Cohen's multi-strategy platform (discretionary long/short plus Cubist systematic). | $37.7B | Stamford, United States |
| 16 | Wellington ManagementHedge and alternative strategies sleeve within a predominantly long-only firm managing about $1.3T firm-wide. | $36.4B | Boston, United States |
| 17 | Viking Global InvestorsFundamental long/short equity (a Tiger Cub founded by Andreas Halvorsen) plus long-only and private vehicles. | $36.0B | Greenwich, United States |
| 18 | Davidson Kempner Capital ManagementCredit-oriented multi-strategy: distressed, event-driven, merger arbitrage, and structured credit. | $35.6B | New York, United States |
| 19 | Farallon Capital ManagementMulti-strategy and event-driven, founded by Tom Steyer; tied with Davidson Kempner in the mid-2025 survey. | $35.6B | San Francisco, United States |
| 20 | PIMCOHedge-fund and absolute-return sleeve (credit, macro, relative value) within a ~$2T fixed-income asset manager. | $32.2B | Newport Beach, United States |
Source: With Intelligence Billion Dollar Club, hedge-fund AUM as of 30 June 2025; 2025 returns and net-gain figures from HFR and LCH Investments (published Jan 2026). Reputable surveys diverge on inclusion — Pensions & Investments' 2025 survey ranks some sleeve-managers lower or excludes them — so ranks 9-20 are approximate. Do not compare these net figures with the gross "regulatory AUM" shown on aggregator sites, which is inflated by leverage.
Two numbers, five-times apart — which AUM is real
Hedge-fund rankings are notoriously inconsistent because two different "AUM" figures circulate. The net hedge-fund assets used here — what investors actually have at risk — put Bridgewater, AQR, and Millennium near $78 billion. The gross "regulatory AUM" on SEC Form ADV counts leverage, and for multi-manager firms it runs four to five times higher (Millennium and Citadel each report well over $300 billion on that basis).
We rank on net hedge-fund assets for comparability, and show only the hedge-fund sleeve for firms like BlackRock, GSAM, Wellington, and PIMCO that are mostly long-only. That is why a $11.5 trillion asset manager appears mid-table rather than at the top.
Largest hedge funds — common questions
What is the largest hedge fund in the world?
Why is a firm like BlackRock on a hedge fund list?
What is the difference between net AUM and regulatory AUM?
How did hedge funds perform in 2025?
Where do these figures come from?
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