Ken Griffin's Citadel flagship hedge fund returns 8% in September during market sell-off

The volatile September was a golden opportunity for billionaire investor Ken Griffin to shine as his main hedge fund crushed the market with outperformance.

Citadel’s multistrategy flagship fund Wellington gained 7.8% in September, bringing its year-to-date performance to 18.5%, according to a person familiar with the returns.

All five of the investment strategies of the fund — equities, commodities, global fixed income and macro, credit, and quantitative strategies — all registered gains last month, the person said.

The overall stock market suffered a roller-coaster ride in September as inflation fears, slowing growth and rising rates kept investors on edge. The S&P 500 fell 4.8% last month, posting its worst month since March 2020 and breaking a seven-month winning streak. The blue-chip Dow and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.3% and 5.3%, respectively, suffering their worst months of the year.

The hedge-fund industry has been attracting new capital this year as the return of volatility sent investors to alternative assets. Hedge funds saw another $12 billion in inflows in August, bringing the overall assets under management to a record $3.622 trillion, according to data from eVestment.

Citadel’s other multistrategy fund, Tactical Trading, gained 3.9% in September and is up 14.1% this year.

The hedge-fund community gained about 10% in 2021 through the end of August, according to HFR. Citadel’s returns were first reported by Business Insider.