• Top hedge funds such as Citadel and Millennium lost money in February, people familiar said.
• Geopolitical tensions brought on by President Donald Trump led to rocky markets last month.
• Some multistrategy rivals, including Balyasny, ExodusPoint, and Verition, still made money.

Some of the biggest hedge funds could not escape unscathed from the volatility brought on by the Trump administration in February.

Managers such as Ken Griffin's Citadel and Izzy Englander's Millennium lost money during the month, which was highlighted by constantly changing trade policy proposals from US leadership and shrinking consumer confidence.

The immediate effect of the geopolitical tensions and potential for a trade war — which research from the asset manager Amundi suggests is a bigger worry for investors than inflation or the deficit — has been a pullback on US equities.

Despite a jump in the last trading day of February, stocks were broadly down last month. The S&P 500 was down by 1.4% for February, bringing the index's 2025 returns to 1.2% through the year's first two months.

Still, several multistrategy funds — which have raised billions in recent years because of their ability to handle volatility — had strong months. Balyasny, which has overhauled its equities team, was up by roughly 0.9%, Michael Gelband's ExodusPoint returned 0.7%, and Verition made 0.6% last month, people close to the firms told Business Insider.

LMR Partners, based in London, was up by 1%, a person close to the firm said, bringing its 2025 returns up to 1.8%. Cliff Asness' $3 billion Apex strategy returned 2.8%, a person close to the manager said.

More firms will be added as returns are learned. The managers below declined to comment or did not immediately return requests for comment.