Hedge fund performance perked up in October, but continued to lag the returns of the broader financial market indexes, according to data released Tuesday.
An index of global hedge fund performance rose 0.26% in October, according to data compiler Eurekahedge. In the first ten months of the year, Eurekahedge’s index is up 6.21%. That compares to a 1.8% monthly, and 22.6% year-to-date, increase in the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.28% .
A separate report showed marginally better returns. The Barclay Hedge Fund Index rose 0.89% in October and has gained 7.97% for the year.
The hedge fund strategy that’s done best in the year to date through October, according to Eurekahedge, is Equity Long Bias — but it’s returned only about half what the broader market has, at 11.04%. For the month of October, the winning strategy was Short Volatility, which gained 3.53%.
Separately, an index of hedge fund investing in crypto-currencies bounced 8.53% in October, and has gained 37.23% in the year to date, which, as Eurekahedge points out, badly trails the 138.65% gain in Bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.46% .