Hedge funds started the year strong, achieving a weighted average return of 4% in January – ahead of the previous three years, according to the latest Monthly Hedge Fund Update from Citco, the asset servicer with over $2tn in AUA.

All-in-all, 77% of hedge funds administered by Citco have achieved positive returns in the first month of 2025.

Equity strategy funds led the way with a weighted average return of 4.6%, followed by Multi-Strategy funds at 4.3% and Commodity funds at 2.4%.

Only event driven funds were negative, with a weighted average return of -1.1%.

Asset under administration categories returned to positivity, with an overall weighted average return of 4%. Larger funds led the way, with over $3bn (5.2%) and $1bn-$3bn (1.5%) the best performers.

The rate of return also spread rose as the difference between 90th and 10th percentile fund returns widened to 8.5%, from 7.6% in December.

Hedge funds saw net inflows of $1.5bn in January, with strong subscriptions of $10.2bn compared to $8.7bn in redemptions. Funds in Europe ($1.4bn) and Asia ($0.3bn) both saw positive net inflows in January; with a net outflow of $0.2bn in the Americas.

Treasury payments started the year apace with 53,765 processed by Citco, the highest number ever for January and third in overall rankings.