Hedge funds' 2026 gains dented by tech trades in July, JPMorgan says

Momentum trades, which are based on the expectation that past winners will continue to outperform and losers to underperform, were behind losses in July, JPMorgan said.

Hedge fund positioning in tech stocks over a long-term perspective is still relatively high and trade sizes were bigger too, JPMorgan said, without giving the time frame.

Multi-strategy funds fared better than others, ending July with negative 2.2% returns, while stock pickers in the Asia-Pacific region averaged a negative 9.4% return, the bank said.

Global quantitative equity hedge funds that trade less on the economic health of companies but more on their stock market performance, averaged a negative 5% for the month.

JPMorgan's note identified quant hedge funds as the most leveraged strategy it tracked, with an assumed leverage of 450%.