$20 billion Rokos defies the market volatility that has stung big-name funds this month

• Rokos Capital, the $20 billion macro fund, is up 3.4% in March through the end of last week.
• Market volatility has stung other hedge funds, like macro peer Brevan Howard, this month.
• Rokos is following up 2024, when it made close to 31%.

Not all big-name funds have hated March.

Chris Rokos’ eponymous fund is up 3.4% this month through the end of last week, a person familiar with the firm’s performance told Business Insider. The firm is positive for the year, the person said, though Rokos’ exact year-to-date performance is unclear.

The $20 million manager declined to comment on what drove the standout performance so far in March, but the firm is known for taking big directional bets when it has serious conviction. It’s profited off both of President Donald Trump’s elections — making nearly $1 billion in profits the day after the most recent victory — and returned close to 31% last year.

March has been a rocky month for plenty of funds, as volatility hit its highest peak this year thanks to uncertain trade policies. One of Rokos’ main macro peers, Brevan Howard, was unable to escape it unscathed. Brevan, which Rokos was a cofounder of before launching his own firm in 2015, lost money in its Master Fund to start the month, pushing the strategy’s losses to more than 5% for the year, Bloomberg previously reported.

Additionally, big-name multistrategy investors struggled to handle the early-month volatility; firms such as Citadel, Millennium, Point72, Balyasny, and Schonfeld lost money during March’s first week.

Industry sources say these managers have bounced back in recent weeks, though it’s unknown to what extent. Stocks have slightly rebounded, as well. While the S&P 500 is down close to 5% for the month, the index is roughly flat since the start of last week, in part thanks to the Federal Reserve’s indication on Wednesday that rate cuts later this year are still on the table.