Macro hedge funds ended 2025 on a strong note, helping drive the best overall hedge fund performance since 2009, according to HFR.
Macro funds returned +7.16% in 2025, despite a difficult and volatile start to the year. They were the best-performing strategy in December (+1.87%), signalling a clear late-year recovery.
Discretionary macro managers materially outperformed systematic strategies. Discretionary Thematic Macro delivered +17.28%. Discretionary Directional Macro returned +15.75%. Systematic Macro declined -0.68% for the year. Within macro, multi-strategy, commodities, and discretionary trading were key contributors.
Against this backdrop, macro hedge funds are actively building teams across discretionary, quantitative, and systematic strategies globally. We are seeing strong demand for:
- Quantitative Portfolio Manager, Global
- FX Options Portfolio Manager, London / Dubai
- Macro Rates Portfolio Manager, London / Dubai
- Fixed Income Relative Value Portfolio Manager, Global
- Emerging Markets Portfolio Manager (CEEMEA), London / Dubai
- Macro Volatility Portfolio Manager, New York / London
- Systematic Macro Quantitative Researcher, New York
- Quantitative Researcher, Singapore
- Quantitative Macro Trader, Global
- Systematic Futures / CTA Trader, Global
With discretionary macro clearly back in favour and capital reallocating toward proven risk-takers, 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal hiring year for macro talent.