Aggregate hedge fund performance was -0.06% for October. The decline was the industry’s third month down in the last four.

Year-to-date performance through October stands at 2.3%, the industry’s lowest return in the first ten months of a year since 2011.

“Despite October’s near flat returns, there was a wide distribution of returns across the industry, illustrating very large gains and losses for the second consecutive month,” stated an eVestment report.

Managed future funds, particularly the those of the largest managers, have benefited from recent global market volatility. Managed future funds with an AuM of over $1bn are now one of the best performing segments of the industry in 2014, behind only India-focused funds.

While market volatility has increased over the last two months, systematic strategies have greatly outperformed funds whose positions and directional market exposures are fully at the discretion of managers.

Event-driven funds are no longer industry leaders for 2014. Activist strategies led to the downside in October, and are in line with the broad industry for the year.

Credit produced the lowest aggregate returns of any market exposure in October, the universe's second consecutive monthly decline. Credit strategies haven't dropped for two straight months since the onset of Europe's sovereign crisis in mid-2011.