Walleye's latest cuts are in area it was supposed to be focusing on
Walleye Capital, the multistrategy hedge fund whose founder has spoken unusually frankly about the nightmare of hedge fund jobs, has cut more heads. Bloomberg reported today that head of global macro, Anuraj Dua and macro trader Jessica Vanquin, have been cut. Three volatility traders Robert Toffel, Julien Prado and Eric Couffignals have been cut too.
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The cuts come after Walleye removed 4% of its staff in March, including Raj Sethi its head of global macro and fixed income. At the time, Walleye was reported to be pulling back from discretionary macro trading and focusing on systematic macro trading instead.
This makes Dua's exit look curious. Hired in 2021 from global trading systems in New York, Dua was initially head of systematic macro at Walleye and said he was building that team. Walleye also let go of Arnaud De Bevy, who was hired from Brevan Howard to build systematic fixed income. However, Walleye still has multiple strategies focused on systematic macro, run by Robert McGee.
It's notable, too, that Walleye has been hiring for the volatility team it's now cutting from. Recent recruits include Rupert Graham, formerly WorldQuant’s head of options, and a former head of European options at Citadel securities, who joined Walleye as a (systematic) volatility PM in Zug.
In an apparent statement of intent, Walleye hired Matt Giannini, Citadel's former head of equities business development a few months ago.
Walleye, which has around $7bn in assets under management, has returned 13% so far this year, Bloomberg said this morning.
The fund declined to comment.
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