A broad market selloff throughout October compelled hedge funds to trim their personnel and liquidate portfolios at the fastest pace in several years. The industry-wide contraction comes as firms move to reduce exposure and unwind positions while market factors move against quantitative holdings.
Specific cuts have hit multi-strategy managers such as Engineers Gate and Walleye. The manager of $23B in assets reduced the majority of the staff on its Synthesis equities team, which focused on combined fundamental and quantitative analysis, while Walleye, overseeing $17B in assets, shut down its equity trading pods.