Walleye Capital cuts equity leadership after October losses

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Walleye Capital cuts equity leadership

Highlights

Walleye Capital removed head of equity long/short Anil Gondi and a substantial portion of internal teams after a 5.9% October loss.
Walleye will continue trading equities with internal teams now reporting directly to CEO Will England and plans ongoing allocations to external stock-picking funds.
October market volatility pushed the S&P 500 down roughly 1% and raised short interest to near five-year highs, intensifying pressure on equity long/short hedge funds.

Restructuring follows weak equity long/short results

As first reported by Business Insider, Walleye Capital has removed Anil Gondi, head of equity long/short, according to a letter to investors seen by the outlet after the firm posted a 5.9% loss in October.

Chief executive and chief investment officer Will England wrote that the fund is examining "every aspect" of the business and simplifying its internal equity long/short operation. He said the decision includes parting ways with the strategy's leadership and a substantial portion of the internal investment teams.

England said Walleye had spent the past few years trying to improve the internal business, including by bringing in new leadership, but those efforts did not deliver the expected results. He added that the opportunity cost and resources required had become too high relative to the return.

Gondi joined Walleye in July 2025. Before that, he worked as a stock-picking portfolio manager at Balyasny Asset Management and later founded 6elm Capital, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Firm keeps stock trading as hedge funds face volatile market

Walleye says in its investor letter that it intends to continue trading equities despite the personnel changes. Internal teams will now report directly to England, and the firm plans to keep allocating capital to externally managed stock-picking funds while also hiring internal portfolio managers.

The manager recently hired Anna Dev, formerly in business development at Millennium, to help identify outside opportunities. Walleye is also among several multi-strategy firms that have allocated money to funds run by former Citadel traders, including Tommaso Trento's Benchstone Capital and Fifthdelta, run by Niall O'Keeffe and Tio Charbaghi.

The latest shake-up is the second major departure this year in Walleye's stock-picking unit after chief operating officer Matt Giannini left in September to return to Citadel. October is a difficult month for hedge funds more broadly, especially for equity-focused strategies, as firms including Point72 Asset Management and Schonfeld Strategic Partners also lose money.

Market volatility has intensified during the month, with declines in large technology stocks including Meta and Intel helping push the S&P 500 down by roughly 1%. Goldman Sachs data also shows short interest across companies rising close to five-year highs, underscoring the pressure on stock-picking teams.

Our earlier analysis of the S&P 500 (SPX) examined the index’s pullback amid a tech- and AI-led rebound after major earnings, while broader selling pressure persisted. We noted that SPX was trading below key short- and medium-term moving averages, with volatility and mixed momentum making the next move highly dependent on breaks of nearby support and resistance levels.

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