Global fund administrator Citco has published its latest Monthly Hedge Fund Report for January 2026, offering an early read on how hedge funds have started the year.
At a high level, the January data shows:
- Net inflows of $6.9bn at the start of 2026, with subscriptions of $16.5bn exceeding redemptions of $9.6bn, extending the renewed investor demand seen last year.
- Ten consecutive positive months for hedge funds, with a weighted average return of 0.9% in January.
- Global Macro extending its dominance, delivering a weighted average return of 6.5% in January after returning 27.7% in 2025.
- Europe leading regional flows, attracting $4.6bn of January inflows, ahead of the Americas ($1.5bn) and Asia ($0.8bn).
- The largest funds continuing to capture the bulk of capital, with funds over $10bn in AUA drawing $3.8bn of inflows.
- Rising dispersion, with the performance spread between the best and worst performers widening to 9.9% in January (up from 6.3% in December).
Beyond performance and flows, the operational data may also be of interest:
- Citco processed 60,714 treasury payments in January, the highest January tally on record and 13% higher than January 2025.
- Trading activity showed a selective rebound led by high-frequency strategies, with volumes in that segment up 12.5% month-on-month and index-linked activity up more than 110% versus December.
- Trade ingestion STP rates remained high at 97.4%, underscoring the scale and automation of activity across the platform.
Executive Summary
Performance
Hedge funds maintained their winning streak at the start of 2026, with a solid opening month that saw three quarters of all strategies make gains.
Funds administered by the Citco group of companies (Citco) posted an overall weighted average return of 0.9% for January, making it ten positive months in a row.
Global Macro strategies led the way once again, achieving a weighted average return of 6.5%, as they extended their run of strong performance after a year when they delivered 27.7%.
Meanwhile, Commodities strategies returned 2.2% in January, while Fixed Income Arbitrage came in at 0.9%, Equities delivered 0.5%, and Multi-Strategy funds came in at 0.1%. Event Driven strategies had a tougher start to the year, with a weighted average return of -2.9%.
All assets under administration (AUA) categories were positive in January. After a year when the largest funds dominated performance, smaller hedge funds started the year strongly, with funds with less than $200m of AUA seeing the strongest return of 1.4%. Funds with between $200m- $500m and $1bn-$3bn of AUA both saw weighted average returns of 1.3% in January, while the $550m-$1bn of AUA segment followed at 0.9%. The largest funds with more than $3bn of AUA were also positive but had the lowest weighted average return, at 0.7%.
There were signs of greater divergence in performance at an individual fund level in January, with the spread between the best and worst performers climbing to 9.9%, up from 6.3% the previous month.
Capital Flows
There was renewed demand for hedge funds at the start of 2026, with inflows into a variety of strategies in January.
Following the best returns on record so far this decade in 2025, hedge funds saw net inflows of $6.9bn in January, with subscriptions of $16.5bn ahead of redemptions of $9.6bn.
Multi-Strategy funds had the highest net inflows in January, at $3.3bn, followed by Equities strategies at $2.4bn, and Fund of Funds strategies at $1bn. Global Macro funds had net inflows of $0.4bn, Arbitrage strategies came in at $0.3bn, while other strategies were flat for the month.
Continuing the trend from last year, the largest funds took the majority of inflows in January. Funds with more than $10bn of AUA had net inflows of $3.8bn, followed by funds with between $5bn-$10bn of AUA, at $2bn, then funds with between $1bn-$5bn of AUA, at $0.7bn. Sub-$1bn funds also had net inflows, at $0.4bn.
On a regional basis, every region saw net inflows. Europe was the standout winner in January, with net inflows of $4.6bn, followed by the Americas at $1.5bn, and Asia at $0.8bn.
Multi-Strategy Outlook 2026
Multi-strategy is expected to remain the fastest-growing segment of the hedge fund market after performing strongly and attracting more inflows in 2025, according to a new report from AFI, in association with Citco. To read the report, click here.
Performance
Overview of Investor Flows
Read the full report here by Citco
