Billionaires Ken Griffin, Steve Cohen, and Izzy Englander are used to setting the pace on Wall Street. But in May, their flagship hedge funds were quietly outclassed — not by each other, but by a scrappy group of lesser-known rivals who are suddenly the ones posting scoreboard-worthy returns.
The Wellington fund, part of investment firm Citadel LLC led by Griffin, edged up just 0.2% in May, bringing its 2025 gains to a modest 0.8%. Cohen's Point72 fared slightly better with a 0.9% gain, now up 3.9% on the year, reported Business Insider. Millennium, the $73 billion fund run by Englander, is up just 0.4% year to date.
Meanwhile, the real fireworks were happening among the underdogs. AQR Capital's Apex fund surged 2.4% in May, pushing its 2025 performance to a scorching 10.6%. Dymon Asia, a $3 billion multistrat with teams across Asia and the Middle East, delivered a 3.3% return, bringing its yearly tally to 8%. Even Michael Gelband's ExodusPoint — often seen as Millennium's upstart cousin — now sits at 7.5% YTD after a solid 1% gain last month.
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These aren't one-off wins. Walleye, Schonfeld, LMR, and Man Group's 1783 fund all quietly outpaced the billionaire giants too — each comfortably above 4.5% for the year.
Sure, Citadel and Millennium deserve credit for limiting losses during the rougher market patches of March and April. But when the S&P 500 rebounded with a 6.2% gain in May — its best single month since November 2023 — the big dogs barely moved, their cautious stance costing them dearly on the upside.
The takeaway?
In 2025's whiplash market, it's not just about risk management — it's about agility. And the billionaires’ big machines are suddenly looking a step slow compared to the leaner, hungrier contenders.
The multistrategy elite might still own the headlines. But this year, it's the middleweights who are punching above their weight class — and landing knockouts.
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