China’s quantitative hedge funds are having a moment. The country’s private fund industry hit a record 23.5 trillion yuan, roughly $3.5 trillion, by the end of April 2026, with quant managers grabbing an increasingly dominant share of that pile.
For three consecutive months starting in February 2026, new quant fund registrations have outnumbered their non-quant counterparts.
The numbers behind the boom
The average return across the Chinese quant fund sector hit approximately 30.5% in 2025. Some shops did even better. High-Flyer, one of the country’s leading quant managers based in Zhejiang, posted average returns of roughly 56-57% in 2025.
By April 2026, 71 securities-focused quant managers had crossed the 10 billion yuan AUM threshold, with 11 new entrants joining that club in April alone. The number stood at around 61 by March 2026, with the top cohort collectively managing more than 1.8 trillion yuan.
