• The industry's biggest names were up despite choppy markets following Donald Trump's victory.
• Balyasny led the way among multistrategy firms, posting a 3.9% monthly gain.
• Firms like Citadel and Schonfeld continue to build on a strong year of returns.

The biggest names in hedge funds ended an up-and-down month in markets in the black.

Multistrategy managers overcame the volatility surrounding Donald Trump's electoral victory — when markets initially skyrocketed but then sold off briefly before rebounding — with firms like Balyasny, Schonfeld, and Citadel posting strong returns for the month.

Balyasny led the way among its peers with a 3.9% gain in November to bring the Chicago-based manager's 2024 returns to 11.6%, a person close to the manager confirmed.

Schonfeld meanwhile continued its strong streak for the year, returning 1.8% in its flagship fund. The New York-based manager is up 17.2% for the year, a person close to the firm said. Ken Griffin's Citadel was also up 1.8% last month in its Wellington fund, while Izzy Englander's Millennium made 2.2%.

The billionaires' firms are up 13.2% and 12.5%, respectively, on the year. Bloomberg previously reported on the firms' November returns.

While multistrategy managers' returns were dwarfed by those of macro managers like Rokos and Discovery Capital that took big swings on Trump's victory, their biggest selling point — steadiness in turbulent markets — was proven true in November.

See below for more performance data. Additional firms will be added as their numbers are learned. The managers declined to comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

• Citadel founder Ken Griffin said on Thursday that he's "open" to selling a stake in his hedge fund.
• Griffin had previously sold a minority stake in his market maker to VC funds Sequoia and Paradigm.
• He said he'd look for "a partner that feels like Sequoia."

BlackRock's potential investment into Izzy Englander's Millennium might have Citadel founder Ken Griffin thinking.

At the Economic Club of New York Thursday, Griffin complimented BlackRock founder Larry Fink for being a "legend in asset management" and said that if the tie-up eventually does go through, "it's a very interesting" one. The early-stage talks between BlackRock and multistrategy rival Millennium were reported by the Financial Times earlier this month.

Asked if he would consider such a move, the billionaire said he'd "be open to selling a minority stake," which Citadel, the $65 billion hedge fund that's become the most profitable firm in the industry's history, has never done.

"We take great pride in being a private partnership," he said, and believes the structure has helped the firm run smoothly for the more than 30 years it's been in existence.

Nearly every hedge fund is still owned by its founders and a select group of partners, even the older industry giants like Citadel, though Griffin may be looking to sell a stake at the peak. He said in a Bloomberg interview on Tuesday that the extreme growth that has added billions of assets to his fund and his peers' is not likely to continue.

In New York Thursday, he pointed out the benefits of selling a stake in his market maker Citadel Securities in 2022 to venture capital firms Sequoia and Paradigm for more than $1 billion. The investment valued the firm at $22 billion.

He said Sequoia in particular brought "real insights" into how to manage a rapidly growing company, noting the firm's past investments into Apple and Nvidia before the two companies were public.

Griffin said Sequoia has pushed Citadel Securities' leadership in the boardroom, making them a better company.

As for who he'd want as a minority stakeholder of Citadel, Griffin clearly has a type.

"We'd look for a partner that feels like Sequoia," he said.