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The amount of money managed by hedge funds has reached an all-time high of $5 trillion, fueled by a surge in capital allocations in the third quarter coupled with positive investment returns.

Analysis published Thursday by industry tracker Hedge Fund Research (HFR) showed total global assets under management stood at a landmark $4.98 trillion at the end of the third quarter.

Overall industry assets swelled by $238.4 billion in the three-month period that ended Sept. 30.

This included $33.7 billion in net new allocations from investors such as pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and family offices. HFR said that was the biggest quarterly net asset inflow since the third quarter of 2007 — before the Global Financial Crisis.

The remainder of the third-quarter capital increase stemmed from positive trading gains made by managers throughout the three-month period.

Here, HFR’s main Fund Weighted Composite Index — which aims to provide an overall snapshot of the industry — gained 5.4% during the period.

The index, which tracks the gains and losses of more than 1,400 single manager funds across all strategy types, is up 9.5% since the start of 2025.

HFR president Kenneth Heinz said the “historic growth” has been driven by a mix of rising M&A activity among corporates, successful bets on the ongoing AI and tech boom and growing expectations for lower interest rates.

“While risk-on sentiment has dominated recent months, risks have also evolved, with managers participating in acceleration of these trends through year end but also positioning for sentiment and trend reversals across equities, commodities, currencies and cryptocurrencies,” Heinz said.

The big winners during the third quarter were equity hedge fund managers, who trade stocks long and short, often using thematic analyses, sector-specific approaches and fundamental single-company research.

During the third quarter, they made 7.2% in investment returns, and saw their assets grow by $96.7 billion, including positive investor net inflows of $18 billion.

Overall, that brought equity-focused funds’ total capital to $1.5 trillion — making them the biggest hedge fund sub-strategy in terms of assets. Year-to-date, stock-picking strategies have gained about 13.6%.

The other key beneficiary has been macro hedge funds, which invest in macroeconomic and geopolitical trends using equities, bonds, currencies, commodities and other assets.

Macro strategies’ assets grew by $33.5 billion overall during Q3, with clients pouring in $1.7 billion net, bringing total macro capital to $759 billion. 

Macro managers added 4.7% in investment returns in Q3. Having recouped losses suffered earlier in the year, the sector is up 3.8% in the nine months to the end of September.

Heinz said the industry can expect more money to flow into its coffers as investors look to traverse a challenging geopolitical environment and trade policy uncertainty.

“Institutions seeking to strategically position for these trends, including both continued acceleration and defensive reversals, are likely to increase allocations to managers which have demonstrated their ability to navigate both the recent risk-on trends, as well as volatile reversals, with these allocations set to drive industry growth beyond the $5 trillion milestone into year-end.”