The hedge fund badly bruised by betting against GameStop is still struggling after ending the first half with a 46% loss, report says

• Melvin Capital's hedge fund was down 46% in the first half of 2021, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
• The fund, one of the highest-profile casualties of the GameStop short-squeeze, was up 1% last month.
• Its assets had risen to $11 billion as of June 1, Bloomberg reported.

Gabe Plotkin's Melvin Capital Management, targeted by the Reddit army of day traders for its bearish GameStop bets, ended the first half of the year with a 46% loss, Bloomberg reported.

The New York-based hedge fund, which suffered a stunning 53% loss in January from the Reddit-trader short squeeze, gained 1% in June. But it is still struggling to recover, Bloomberg said in the Thursday report, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Melvin Capital, founded by star portfolio manager Plotkin, did manage to stage something of a comeback with a 22% gain in February. But its overall first-quarter loss stood at 49%, Insider understands.

The hedge fund got torched by the Reddit army alongside other high-profile firms that had big bets against GameStop when day traders banded together to send shares of the gaming retailer skyrocketing. When the price of a stock rises, short sellers must typically cover their positions by buying shares at that higher price.

Melvin Capital lost a chunk of its assets in the trading frenzy, ending January with $8 billion in assets, down from $12.5 billion at the start of the year. Its assets had risen to $11 billion as of June 1, the Financial Times and Bloomberg reported.

After the January hit, the fund has somewhat recovered. It is up 18% for the five months between February and June, Insider understands. It gained 5.4% in the second quarter.

The hedge fund is understood to be taking smaller-sized positions to limit its exposure to single companies. It exited its public short positions against GameStop, AMC and other stocks in the first quarter, but may have still held non-public, more traditional short positions.

Founder Gabe Plotkin has also asked a team of data scientists to comb through social media and day-trader forums for stock names of interest to retail traders, Bloomberg reported.

A spokesperson for Melvin Capital declined to comment.

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