Ken Griffin’s mutistrategy hedge fund at Citadel rose 1.4% in volatile January

Billionaire investor Ken Griffin’s flagship hedge fund eked out a small gain in a volatile January, according to a person familiar with the returns.

Citadel’s multistrategy flagship Wellington fund climbed 1.4% in January, following a 15.1% gain in 2024, according to the person, who spoke anonymously because the performance numbers are private. All five strategies used in the fund — commodities, equities, fixed income, credit and quantitative — were positive for the month, the person said.

The Miami-based firm’s tactical trading fund gained 2.7% in January, while its equities fund, which uses a long/short strategy, also returned 2.7%, said the person. Meanwhile, Citadel’s global fixed income fund returned 1.9%.

Citadel, which had $65 billion in assets under management as the year began, declined to comment.

Markets experienced violent price swings last month as investors grew wary of President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies. At the end of the month, an artificial intelligence competitor out of China called DeepSeek caused a massive sell-off in Nvidia and upended other megacap tech stocks.

The S&P 500 climbed 2.7% in January and is up 1.9% in 2025 following a stellar two-year run in 2023 and 2024. The equity benchmark scored a second consecutive annual gain above 20% last year, and the two-year gain of 53% is the best since the 1997 and 1998 when it jumped nearly 66%. 

Before the new administration took office on Jan. 20, Griffin criticized the steep tariffs Trump vowed to implement, saying it could result in crony capitalism.

The 56-year-old Citadel founder said domestic companies could enjoy a short-term benefit by having their competitors weakened. Longer term, however, tariffs do more harm to corporate America and the economy as companies lose competitiveness and productivity, Griffin said.