SAID HAIDAR

Haidar founded Haidar Capital Management in New York in 1997. Before that, he built a career in quantitative research at investment banks, including Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he was director of quantitative research in the institutional futures and options division.

He then moved to Lehman Brothers as a senior vice president in quantitative strategies, and later ran research for fixed income proprietary trading at Credit Suisse First Boston. His flagship Haidar Jupiter fund runs a discretionary global macro strategy across rates, currencies, commodities, and equities.

In 2022 he made his biggest call yet, shorting government bonds worldwide as central banks scrambled to fight inflation, and the fund returned roughly 193%.

Haidar Capital Management, Haidar Jupiter Fund

Haidar runs a discretionary global macro book, which means he makes big directional bets on where economies and interest rates are heading. The defining feature is leverage.

His fund reported gross exposure that dwarfs the actual money under management, which magnifies both gains and losses. He trades rates, currencies, and commodities based on his read of inflation and central bank moves.

When his macro view is right, the leverage turns a good year into a spectacular one. When it is wrong, the same math works brutally in reverse.

The 2022 run is the defining win. As inflation surged and central banks launched the most aggressive rate-hiking campaign in a generation, Haidar bet heavily that bond yields would soar.

The Haidar Jupiter fund gained roughly 193% for the year, at one point running up more than 270% before giving some back. That single year personally earned him an estimated $859 million and put him among the best-paid hedge fund managers in the world.

The same leverage that made 2022 legendary turned painful afterward. In January 2023, the fund fell about 13% when bond yields dropped instead of rising, wrong-footing his positions.

Over the following period the fund suffered further heavy losses as macro trades went against him. It is the clearest lesson of his style.

The leverage that produces a 193% year can just as easily deliver gut-punch drawdowns when the macro call misses.

Haidar built his 2022 around a strong conviction that inflation would run hotter and last longer than central banks admitted. He has been skeptical of official forecasts, arguing that if inflation falls fast it will be down to luck rather than skill.

His philosophy is to size up hugely when he believes the macro picture is clear. He would rather take a concentrated, high-conviction position with heavy leverage than spread risk thin.

That approach makes him one of the boldest and most volatile macro traders around.

Haidar keeps his personal and family life almost entirely out of public view. Little is confirmed publicly beyond his professional record.

Haidar earned bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from Harvard University. He then pursued a PhD in economics at the University of Chicago but did not finish his dissertation, leaving academia for a career in quantitative finance.