Hedge Funds
Quants and stock pickers both lose more than 3% in October, a first in Goldman's records
Goldman Sachs prime data shows systematic and fundamental long-short funds fell together, as a tech sell-off left no corner of equity strategies untouched.
HedgeWeekly Hedge Fund Desk ·
Systematic long-short hedge funds lost 3.6% in October and fundamental long-short funds lost about 3.5%, according to Goldman Sachs prime brokerage data cited in market reports on Tuesday. Goldman said it was the first month since its records began in 2016 in which both groups fell by more than 3%.
JPMorgan estimated that global hedge funds were down 2.6% over October 1 to 29 and projected a loss of roughly 3.5% for the full month. The damage was concentrated in AI and technology shares: the Nasdaq 100 dropped 6.6% in the month, while broader US and European equity indexes were roughly flat to higher.
Bond markets offered little cover to equity-focused books. The 10-year Treasury yield fell 36 basis points over the month, which reports described as its largest monthly decline since December 2023.
For allocators, the month matters because quant and discretionary equity strategies are often held as complements. A simultaneous drawdown of this size suggests that crowding in the same technology exposures, rather than style differences, drove returns, and it may prompt closer scrutiny of overlap and leverage across long-short holdings as managers report final October numbers.