One week ago, when Nomura's Charlie McElligott told clients that the October "pod purge" was the multi-strat model simply "cleansing" itself, we were less sanguine: "we suspect the next round of stop-outs is probably just a matter of time." Well, Charlie was wrong, we were right: it took about a week. And this time it's an entire fund.
Moments ago, Bloomberg reported that Walleye Capital, the $17 billion multistrategy hedge fund run by CIO Will England, is returning a portion of its capital to investors and gutting its internal equities business after its worst month since March 2020. Walleye lost 5.9% in October, bringing its 2026 losses through last month to 6.8%, according to people familiar. Anil Gondi, the firm's head of equities, has been let go along with a "substantial" portion of the internal long/short teams, according to a letter sent to investors on Thursday, which we have obtained and post in full below.
Here is the math: if October's 5.9% loss took Walleye to -6.8% YTD, the fund was down roughly 1% for the year going into the month. That's the "already challenging 2026" England references in his first paragraph. Then October turned a mediocre year into a bad one.
"Not Going To Be Trying To Replicate" Millennium
The letter is short, and unusually blunt for a hedge fund letter. England opens with "discipline, humility, and self-awareness" and then gets right to the point:
Following our worst month since March 2020, in an already challenging 2026, we have taken a hard look at every aspect of our firm. With that in mind, we are simplifying our internal equity long/short business. This decision includes parti
