On April 4, Beijing time, according to people familiar with the matter, Qiaoshui's flagship hedge fund fell about 20% in the first quarter.

Qiaoshui took the wrong direction in the market's decline that began at the end of February due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and continued to lose money. According to people familiar with the matter, the company's Pure Alpha II Strategy Fund continued the loss trend of the previous two months in March, and that month's loss range increased to about 16%. Since the information was not made public, people familiar with the matter did not wish to be named.

Ray Dalio called on investors earlier this year not to miss out on the opportunity to benefit from a strong market. He wrote in mid-March that the pandemic hit the company “at a time that couldn't be worse” because Qiaoshui's portfolio tended to benefit from rising markets. The company has assets of around $160 billion and manages the world's largest hedge fund.

The company's Pure Alpha Major Markets fund performed well. As the largest fund using a major market strategy, one of the people familiar with the matter said that the fund fell about 3% in March and lost about 8.5% during the year so far.

Dalio said the Bridgewater Fund's losses were “in line with my expectations in this situation”

A spokesperson for Qiaosui declined to comment.