(Bloomberg) - Veteran macro trader Adam Levinson is shutting down his hedge fund after being hit by losses amid ongoing bond market volatility.
Levinson’s Graticule Asia macro hedge fund has plunged more than 25% this year, mostly during the days after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, according to people with knowledge of the matter. His bets tied to front-end rates imploded and erased years of gains, the people said asking not to be identified because the details are private.
Graticule, based in Singapore, becomes the first known high-profile hedge fund felled by wild swings in bond markets, which were triggered by the SVB’s collapse as traders pulled bets on further rate hikes by central banks. Some of the biggest hedge fund winners of last year from computer-driven hedge funds to money pools run by Rokos Capital Management, Graham Capital Management and Brevan Howard Asset Management have also seen losses.
A spokesman for Graticule declined to comment.
Levinson, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. proprietary trader in Tokyo, led a team of people that spun out of Fortress Investment Group LLC in 2015. The Fortress Asia Macro fund, which began trading in 2011, was the predecessor to Graticule, which grew to manage $4.5 billion by March 2016.
The firm has shrunk since then. After a nearly one-third decline in asset base in 2019, Graticule’s flagship fund plunged 9% in the March 2020 market rout, as bets on equities in Japan, China and the US and some fixed-income trades soured. As of last year, the firm managed about $3 billion.
Last year, when most large macro hedge fund posted gains by betting on rising interest rates, Levinson’s hedge fund lost 4.7%.
By Nishant Kumar and Bei Hu
With assistance from Donal Griffin
