Bitcoin hedge fund Pantera Capital made a strong comeback in April - but passive indexes did a lot better
- Pantera Capital made a big comeback in April, thanks to a boom in the crypto markets.
- Still, a number of small passive index fund beat the $1 billion fund manager.
Pantera Capital, one of the largest cryptocurrency hedge funds, made a big comeback in April, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider.
The firm's Digital Asset Fund gained 46.2% in April, riding a bullish surge across the market for digital currencies. That's a big turn around for the fund, which was down 45.7% in March, according to documents.
In March, the crypto market shed almost 50% of its value. It started to picked up steam near mid-April around Tax Day in the US.
Pantera Capital, which manages about $1 billion, said in an investor letter dated April 11 that the deadline for filing taxes in the US was behind's March selling.
"I could imagine that a portion of the selling pressure on the market in general has been unintended tax positions," the letter said.
Notably, Fundstrat's Tom Lee predicted in a note to clients at the beginning of April that selling pressure would alleviate after Tax Day. Since April 17, bitcoin has picked up approximately $1,500 per coin.
Still, Pantera was outshined by at least two passive index funds. Bitwise HOLD 10 Private Index Fund was up 52.9% in April, after fees, according to person familiar with the matter. And Hehmeyer Trading's Cryptocurrency Index Fund ended April up 51.7%, according to the company.
As for Pantera's Digital Asset Fund, it is down 34% since the beginning of the year, which is slightly worse than bitcoin's performance. The cryptocurrency is down 30% year-to-date, according to Market Insider data.
Elsewhere at Pantera, its ICO fund was up a whopping 60% in April. And its Long-Term ICO fund gained 5% in April.