The fact is, 2018 was not a good year for hedge fund managers. I mean, they still made more money in one year than most of us will in a lifetime, but for their elevated expectations, 2018 was definitely an off year. Some even lost money. The average hedge fund manager returned -4.38% in 2018. Other traders – mostly the quantitative traders – did better. More than half of the highest-earning hedge fund managers and traders in 2018 used computer algorithms to fuel their funds. A few fund managers had stellar returns this past year. Renaissance Technologies' various funds returned between 8.5% and 10.3%, giving Renaissance founder Jim Simons an enormous $1.6 billion payday in 2018.
The 20 highest-earning made a combined $10.3 billion last year, the lowest earnings since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Larry Busacca/Getty Images
#19. Paul Singer – $100 million
Elliot Management
#19. Peter Brown – $100 million
Renaissance Technologies
#18. Steven Schonfeld – $130 million
Schonfeld Strategic Advisors
#15. Peter Muller – $150 million
PDT Partners
#15. Robert Prince – $150 million
Bridgewater Associates
#15. Greg Jensen – $150 million
Bridgewater Associates
#14. Crispin Odey – $200 million
Odey Asset Management
#13. Alan Howard – $300 million
Brevan Howard Asset Management
#12. Chase Coleman – $450 million
Tiger Global Management
#11. Carl Icahn -$480 million
Ichan Capital Management
#7. Jeffrey Talpins – $500 million
Element Capital Management
#7. Paul Tudor Jones – $500 million
Tudor Investment Corporation
#7. Israel Englander – $500 million
Millennium Management
#7. David Shaw – $500 million
D.E. Shaw
#5. David Siegel – $700 million
Two Sigma Investments
#5. John Overdeck – $700 million
Two Sigma Investments
#4. Ken Griffin – $870 million
Citadel Investments
#3. Ray Dalio – $1 billion
Bridgewater Investments
#2. Mike Platt – $1.2 billion
Bluecrest Capital
#1. Jim Simons – $1.6 billion
Renaissance Technologies
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