Cliff Asness' AQR sees multiple hedge funds up double digits in 2025, beating the market

• AQR Capital Management's Apex strategy rallied 11.4% in the first six months of the year, according to a person familiar with the fund's returns.
• AQR's long-short Delphi equity fund gained 11.6% net of fees in the first half of 2025, the person said.
• Its alternative trend-following Helix strategy has returned 7.4% so far this year, the person said.

AQR Capital Management took advantage of a volatile first half of 2025, with a duo of hedge funds doubling the S&P 500's return.

The Apex strategy from Cliff Asness' firm, which combines stocks, macro and arbitrage trades and has $4.3 billion in assets under management, rallied 11.4% in the first six months of the year, according to a person familiar with AQR's returns who asked to be anonymous as the information is private.

AQR's long-short Delphi equity fund, with $4.1 billion in assets under management, gained 11.6% net of fees in the first half of 2025, the person said.

The stock market staged a stunning rebound this year even as uncertainty remains amid an aggressive trade war and Middle East escalation. The S&P 500 has rebounded from a near 20% sell-off in April, going on to score a new record high on Friday and again on Monday. The equity benchmark is up 5.3% year to date.

AQR's alternative trend-following Helix strategy has returned 7.4% so far this year, the person said.

Asness co-founded AQR in 1998 after a stint at Goldman Sachs. He and his partners established the quant-driven firm's investment philosophy at the University of Chicago's Ph.D. program, focusing on value and momentum strategies.

The firm has successfully expanded into multistrategy approaches in recent years. AQR has $142 billion in assets under management, up from about $99 billion at the start of 2024.