Billionaire Ken Griffin's $38 billion shop is up nearly 10% for the year through August in its flagship Wellington fund after returning 3.5% last month, people familiar with the fund tell Insider.
The Chicago-based hedge fund is also up nearly 10% in its Tactical Trading multi-strategy fund, which pulls from equity and quant portfolio managers after being originally started as a high-frequency trading vehicle. The firm's global fixed income business was flat for the month of August and is up 7.5% for the year.
Griffin has outpaced multi-strategy rivals such as Point72, Millennium, and ExodusPoint this year.
Millennium is up 8.6% for the year after making 1.3% in August, while Point72 and ExodusPoint are each up roughly 4% in 2021, according to sources familiar with the funds. The firms declined to comment.
After investing $2 billion in Gabe Plotkin's Melvin Capital in January, when Plotkin's fund was under attack from Reddit traders driving up his short positions, Citadel is pulling out $500 million, according to the Wall Street Journal by the end of the third quarter.
Citadel invested into Melvin alongside Point72, which put in $750 million. Melvin's problems after the investment had dragged down Point72's performance, but Bloomberg reported in August that the January infusions of capital had become a positive investment for both Griffin and Point72 founder Steve Cohen.
Citadel's Wellington fund also had a great 2020. It returned 24.4% for the year — its best performance in 8 years.
