In March, stocks, gold, and bonds all declined, with star macro strategy products collectively experiencing withdrawals.

Securities Times reporter Shen Ning

In recent years, macro strategy products from private equity firms have gained favor from capital due to their steady performance, with assets under management continuing to expand rapidly. However, since March, prices across major global asset classes have experienced sharp fluctuations, with a relatively significant decline at one point, causing a collective drawdown in the net asset values of macro strategy products. Many star products were not spared either, drawing widespread attention from the market.

Within macro strategy products, Bridgewater’s All Weather strategy holds a benchmark status in the industry. Securities Times reporter learned from sales channels that, under Bridgewater China, macro products have recently experienced a certain level of drawdown, with year-to-date returns narrowing.

A person familiar with the channel said that since March, the global macro environment has been complicated and constantly changing. In the initial stage, the market was hit by an inflation shock triggered by supply-side disruptions: global commodity prices rose, and stocks and bonds faced overall pressure. Subsequently, rising risk-avoidance sentiment led to asset resonance. Against the backdrop of ongoing geopolitical events and the impact of concentrated unwinding of crowded trades in the prior period (such as precious metals), various asset classes were broadly sold off. Under these circumstances, correlations among major asset classes have increased markedly, and the effectiveness of diversified investment has shown a temporary weakening. Macro strategies inevitably experience volatility and drawdowns. From a long-term perspective, balanced and diversified multi-asset portfolios tend to repair faster than single-asset allocations, and their long-term wealth accumulation effects are also more pronounced.

In addition to products under Bridgewater, a number of star private placements’ macro strategy products have also seen staged drawdowns in their net asset values recently. “In this round of drawdowns, we do see some macro strategy products experiencing drawdowns of more than 10%. But such volatility actually aligns with a product’s own risk-return characteristics. However, when you extend the time horizon, there’s nothing particularly special about it.” The aforementioned channel insider said.

A relevant person in charge at Qianxiang Asset told Securities Times reporter that, recently, due to simultaneous drawdowns across three categories of assets—stocks, gold, and bonds—both the All Weather strategy and macro strategy products have recorded a certain level of drawdown, and Qianxiang’s quantitative All Weather product has also made a small adjustment downward recently. Traditional All Weather strategies mainly hold long positions in multiple assets. In a market where multiple asset classes decline simultaneously, they will face significant challenges.

The person in charge also said that it’s important to note that All Weather strategies are not guaranteed to make money without loss. Although correlations between various assets and related strategies are relatively low, they are not negatively correlated either, meaning a resonance-style decline is still possible. But from the long term, their volatility and cyclical performance are significantly better than those of a single asset and a single strategy, offering higher value for money. As the market gradually returns to normal, the profitability of All Weather strategies will also be gradually restored.

Industry insiders say that macro strategy in international markets mainly falls into three categories: quantitative macro, discretionary macro, and systematic macro. Currently, some domestic macro strategies are largely discretionary macro. Quantitative macro is constrained by domestic investable instruments and data, so its comparative advantages are not particularly prominent. Discretionary macro, on the other hand, relies heavily on the experience and judgment of research and investment personnel. Systematic macro emphasizes combining data and logic, and responds to a complex and changing macro environment through scientific risk budgeting and asset allocation. At its core, macro products use a top-down logic to judge the trends of major asset classes, aiming to capture their long-term returns under different macro environments. Such products typically have relatively low long-term Sharpe ratios, but they have large strategy capacity.

The main reason macro strategy products are so sought after by the market lies in their relatively steady performance. According to data from Private Placement Ranked Net (排排网), as of March 20, 2026, among 469 macro strategy products with performance records, the average return rate since the beginning of the year is 3.13%. Of them, 343 products achieved positive returns, accounting for 73.13%. In 2025, there were 378 macro strategy products with performance records, with an average return rate of 25.96%. Of those, 350 products achieved positive returns, accounting for 92.59%.

An executive in charge of a market team at a state-hundred-billion private fund in Shanghai analyzed that, from the external environment, global geopolitical conditions have continued to be in turmoil. The valuation level of the A-share market has already rebounded from its low point, and the difficulty of investing in single assets has increased significantly. At the same time, the share of domestic institutional investors has continued to rise. The pace at which long-term funds such as pension funds and insurance funds enter the market has accelerated. The wealth management market has become increasingly mature, and individual investors’ asset allocation concepts are also gradually changing. Through diversified allocation and scientific risk-control management, macro strategy products can, to a certain extent, diversify risk and smooth portfolio volatility. This aligns with the current market’s needs to optimize portfolio structures and diversify the risk of a single market. In addition, strong performance from some macro products last year has further attracted more investor attention.

(Editor: Wen Jing)

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