Three hedge fund strategy groups fall more than 1% in one session

Fundamental, systematic and multistrategy hedge funds each fell more than 1% on Oct. 22, the first session since the pandemic in which all three dropped that far, according to Goldman Sachs prime brokerage data. Multistrategy platforms lost 1.9%, their second-largest daily decline since the April 2025 tariff selloff. Systematic long-short funds fell 1.3%, their third-worst session since December 2023, and global fundamental long-short equity funds dropped 1.4%, their worst day since July 16. Telecom, media and technology managers averaged 2.7% losses.

More than two-thirds of hedge funds ended the day lower, with concentrated short positions under further pressure in the second half of trading. Bloomberg first reported the Goldman data.

Goldman's Oct. 23 data showed its AI stock basket had fallen to the 38th percentile of its one-year range as tech posted record two-week net selling. The Nasdaq 100 fell 2.9%, its steepest decline since June, on concern about returns on artificial intelligence investment and inflationary pressure from rising oil prices.

These are strategy-bucket averages from a prime broker, not fund-level results, so an allocator holding a multistrategy vehicle cannot read a particular manager's loss off them. The practical consequence is a comparison problem: three strategies marketed as different sources of return produced the same outcome on the same day. The diligence question is exposure rather than strategy name—net and gross exposure, short-book concentration and how much of the book sat in a single factor. A single session is thin evidence for changing a mandate, but it is enough to check reported exposure against the strategy label; month-end disclosures are the first place to do that.