'Wizard of Oz' Greg Coffey's hedge fund has reportedly surged 29% this year, demolishing the broader market
- Greg Coffey, a star hedge fund trader nicknamed the "Wizard of Oz," has led his firm to a 29% year-to-date return through the end of October, according to Bloomberg report citing an investor letter.
- Coffey's Kirkoswald Asset Management is handily outperforming the broader market, with the S&P 500 returning roughly 21% over the same period.
- The trader was mentored by hedge fund legend Louis Bacon, who is reportedly planning to return capital to outside investors at his firm Moore Capital Management.
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A hedge fund manager nicknamed the "Wizard of Oz" is crushing the broader market.
Greg Coffey's Kirkoswald Asset Management has soared 29% year-to-date through October, according to Bloomberg, which cited an investor letter. That figure is 8 percentage points higher than S&P 500's gain of 21% during the same period.
Kirkoswald is a macro fund that makes bets on broad economic trends. The firm - which focuses on emerging markets - is outperforming peers this year that are struggling with historically low interest rates and a growing mountain of negative-yielding debt, Bloomberg found.
Further, the fund's returns are about five times the average of similar firms tracked by a Bloomberg Index.
Coffey previously retired at 41 after being mentored by hedge fund legend Louis Bacon, who is planning to close his firm Moore Capital Management to outside investors, according to a report from earlier this week.
Bacon's protégé spent time at both Moore and GLG Partners overseeing emerging-market funds. According to a 2012 Financial News report, Bacon once described Coffey as "the most impressive trader" he's ever seen.
The investor reemerged from retirement in 2018 to launch a big comeback with his own macro-focused hedge fund, and it appears to be working.
Kirkoswald raised about $1 billion in capital at launch in April of last year. The firm got off to promising start earlier this year, returning about 6.9% year-to-date through May as the average macro fund manager gained 2.7% during the same period, according to Hedge Fund Research data.
A representative from Kirkoswald did not immediately respond to a request for comment.