The fact is, 2018 was not a good year for hedge fund managers. I mean, they still made more money in one year than most of us will in a lifetime, but for their elevated expectations, 2018 was definitely an off year. Some even lost money. The average hedge fund manager returned -4.38% in 2018. Other traders – mostly the quantitative traders – did better. More than half of the highest-earning hedge fund managers and traders in 2018 used computer algorithms to fuel their funds.
The difficult year was capped off with insane volatility in the fourth quarter. Despite this, the following nine hedge fund managers brought home crazy salaries. There are some familiar names who make the list perennially, like David Shaw, Ray Dalio and Ken Griffin. Other famous hedge fund managers that failed to make the list this year are Third Point's Daniel Loeb and Appaloosa Management's David Tepper. In fact, 12 of 25 hedge fund managers that made last year's list of the highest paid failed to make this list.
Eoin Noonan /Getty Images
Hedge fund: Tiger Global Management
Assets under management: $28 billion
2019 compensation: $465 million
8. David Shaw
Hedge fund: DE Shaw
Assets under management: $50 billion
2019 compensation: $500 million
7. Crispin Odey
Hedge fund: Odey Asset Management
Assets under management: $5 billion
2019 compensation: $530 million
6. Izzy Englander
Hedge fund: Millennium Partners
Assets under management: $38 billion
2019 compensation: $750 million
4.(tie) John Overdeck
Hedge fund: Two Sigma
Assets under management: $51 billion
2019 compensation: $820 million
4.(tie) David Siegel
Hedge fund: Two Sigma
Assets under management: $51 billion
2019 compensation: $820 million
3. Ken Griffin
Hedge fund: Citadel
Assets under management: $30 billion
2019 compensation: $870 million
2. James Simons
Hedge fund: Renaissance Technologies
Assets under management: $84 billion
2019 compensation: $1.5 billion
1. Ray Dalio
Hedge fund: Bridgewater Associates
Assets under management: $137 billion
2019 compensation: $2 billion
