Global fund administrator Citco has published its latest Monthly Hedge Fund Update, looking at hedge fund performance, investor flows and operational activity in June 2026.
Key findings are:
- Hedge funds recorded their third consecutive month of gains, delivering a weighted average return of 2.4% in June and ending Q2 in positive territory.
- Global macro and equity strategies led performance, returning 3.0% and 2.9% respectively, while commodity-focused funds declined by 2.3%.
- Funds administered by Citco recorded $13.6bn of net inflows during the month, bringing total net inflows for the first half of 2026 to $70.4bn.
- Multi-strategy funds continued to attract the majority of flows, receiving $9.1bn in June and $43.4bn across the first half of the year.
- Capital remained concentrated among the largest managers, with funds holding more than $10bn in assets under administration attracting $9.4bn in June and $54.4bn year to date.
- Treasury payment activity reached a new high, with Citco processing a record 72,085 payments during June. Straight-through processing rates also improved to 97.4%, up from 96.3% in May.
Executive Summary
Performance
Hedge funds saw their third consecutive month of gains in June, finishing Q2 in positive territory as Global Macro and Equity funds once again outperformed other strategy types.
Across the hedge funds administered by the Citco group of companies (Citco), the weighted average return was 2.4% for June, their third best month of the year so far. Over half (56.9%) of funds finished in the green, although this was below the previous two months.
Global macro funds were the best performers in June, with a weighted average return of 3%, followed closely by equity-focused strategies at 2.9%. Fixed income arbitrage funds were next, at 2.6%, then event driven at 2.2%, and multi-strategy funds at 1.8%. Commodity-focused strategies continued to struggle, with a weighted average return of -2.3%.
Meanwhile, the largest funds with more than $3bn of assets under administration (AUA) once again topped the performance charts, with a 3.1% weighted average return in June. Next were the $1bn-$3bn of AUA funds, at 1.7%, and then funds with between $500m-$1bn of AUA, at 1.6%.
Smaller funds have lagged larger ones for much of the year, and the $200m-$500m of AUA category and the sub $200m strategies were both in the red for the month, at -0.6% and -0.2% respectively.
There was greater dispersion in returns in June, with the spread between the best and worst performers climbing back up to 10.9%, having been at 7.7% last month.
Capital Flows
Large multi-strategy managers saw strong demand in June as hedge funds locked in another month of net inflows.
Across all strategies, Citco saw net inflows of $13.6bn in June, driven by subscriptions of $35.1bn, and as such we have seen inflows every month of the year so far in 2026.
Multi-Strategy mandates continue to take the majority of flows, and June saw a further $9.1bn go into these portfolios, taking their tally to $43.4bn for the first half of the year. Hybrid strategies also saw net inflows of $7.2bn in June, while Equity strategies had the highest net outflows, at $2bn. Activity around other strategies was more muted.
The largest funds with more than $10bn of AUA have attracted most of the inflows seen YTD, and this pattern continued in June as funds with more than $10bn of AUA saw net inflows of $9.4bn, taking them to $54.4bn for the year.
Other categories also saw positive flows in June, with $1.1bn of net inflows to funds with between $5bn-$10bn of AUA, and $3.3bn to the $1bn-$5bn AUA category. However, the smallest funds with less than $1bn had small net outflows of $0.1bn.
Europe continued to dominate in terms of inflows in June, with $7.8bn of net inflows, ahead of the Americas at $5.4bn, and Asia at $0.4bn.
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Performance
Overview of Investor Flows
Insights into Trade Volumes
Trading volumes increased month on month in June, extending the growth observed in May, with activity levels remaining elevated across most asset classes.
After last month’s decline in equity and index derivatives – alongside weaker CDS volumes – June showed a recovery in derivatives and macro-related products, with higher volumes across FX, cross-rate products, and commodity futures. Index futures activity also increased, suggesting a pickup in macro positioning following May’s lower volatility environment.
Fixed income activity remained broadly stable in June, as the prior month’s rotation into fixed income continued to underpin overall volumes.
Platform performance remained strong, with Straight Through Processing (STP) rates improving to 97.4%, up from 96.3% in May, reflecting operational resilience.
Insights into Payments, Treasury and Collateral
June broke records after seeing the highest amount of treasury payments transacted through Citco’s middle office since records began.
In total, 72,085 payments were processed, breaking the previous record of 71,240 set in December 2025. The tally was also more than 25% higher versus the previous June.
While the jump in monthly volumes was eye-catching, it is also indicative of the ongoing trend among managers to outsource more non-core functions.
