Hedge Funds Followed the April Equity Rally by Increasing Exposure to Technology Leaders, Hazeltree Finds

Strong interest in Meta and Amazon.com contrasted with declining Nvidia positioning and continued bearish sentiment toward Tesla

NEW YORK & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Despite geopolitical turbulence and a mix of high volatility, global markets reached new highs during the month of April. Hedge funds continued to concentrate holdings in companies characterized by superior fundamentals, strong profitability, high return on equity and leading margins, according to Hazeltree, a leading provider of integrated treasury and liquidity management solutions for alternative asset managers.

According to the newly published April 2026 Hazeltree Crowding Report, the firm’s analysis tracked closely with the strong performance of technology benchmarks. This was particularly evident within the Magnificent Seven, where Meta and Amazon.com experienced more than a 5% month-over-month increase in the number of funds holding long positions, while Nvidia experienced a 4.5% decline and Tesla reflected an overall bearish positioning as measured by long-to-short fund count ratio.

Based on Hazeltree’s analysis of positioning trends, semiconductors drew significant attention from hedge funds. The PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index™ experienced its strongest monthly gains since 1994, rising 40%. Hazeltree analyzed 30 of the largest U.S.-traded semiconductor companies within the Index and noted the following takeaways:

• Overall sentiment has remained relatively stable year-to-date.
• The share of constituents with net long positioning started at 57% in January, dipped modestly to 53% in February and March, and recovered to 57% in April.
• Within the index, sentiment towards Astera Labs and Coherent shifted from long-biased to short-biased, as measured by both the long-to-short fund count ratio and net exposure.
• In April, crowding remains most pronounced on the long side in Nvidia, followed by Broadcom and Lam Research.
• On the short side, ON Semiconductor is the most crowded name, followed by Microchip Technology and Monolithic Power Systems.

The monthly report provides a look back at hedge fund long and short crowding across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC, based on Hazeltree’s analysis of anonymized data from approximately 16,000 securities on its proprietary securities‑finance platform, representing more than 600 global funds. It includes the ten most crowded regional long and short positions, broken out by large-, mid-, and small-cap categories.

Hazeltree defines the crowding score as a relative metric that normalizes the number of funds in Hazeltree’s community that are long or short a given security within a predefined group (by region and market cap) relative to its peers. When a fund is long on a stock, it generally means they either expect the stock's price to go up or use long to hedge their exposure to shorts. On the contrary, when a fund is short a stock, it generally means they either expect the stock's price to drop or are hedging their long exposure.

“Despite the continued Middle East conflict and the rising cost of oil, global markets snapped back in April with a risk-on approach, particularly in the tech and semiconductor sectors, as hedge funds in our community data set followed,” ​commented Tim Smith, managing director, Data Insights, Hazeltree. “We noted in our analysis of the semiconductor sector that hedge fund positioning in Nvidia remained long-biased with softening at the margin, while long fund participation declined by approximately 4.5% month-over-month, while short fund participation increased meaningfully in April.”

Further Highlights at the Single-Name Level

North America: Top Movers (>10% MoM Change in Fund Counts)

Long crowding increases

• Mid Cap: Paylocity, Chemed, Toro, Commvault, Match Group, and Calix
• Small Cap: Harmony Biosciences, Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, and SPS Commerce

Note: Inspire Medical System from the small cap group saw a >10% month‑over‑month decrease in long fund counts.

​Short crowding increases

• Large Cap: General Mills
• Mid Cap: The Campbell's Company, and Repligen
• Small Cap: Ziff Davis, T1 Energy, Tripadvisor, Kohl's, Lindblad Expeditions, and Douglas Emmett

Note: Supermicro from the large cap group and Molina Healthcare from the mid cap group saw a >10% month‑over‑month decrease in short fund counts.

EMEA: Top Movers (>10% MoM Change in Fund Counts)

Long crowding increases

• Small Cap: Atalaya Mining, Integrafin, and BlueNord

Note: Currys and Friedrich Vorwerk from the small cap group saw a > 10% month-over-month decrease in long fund counts.

Short crowding increases

• Mid Cap: Barry Callebaut
• Small Cap: Domino's Pizza Group

Note: Gerresheimer from the small cap group saw a >10% month‑over‑month decrease in short fund counts.

APAC: Top Movers (>10% MoM Change in Fund Counts)

Long crowding increases

• Mid Cap: West African Resources
• Small Cap: Tianqi Lithium, and Stanmore Resources

Short crowding increases

• Large Cap: Horizon Robotics, and Fujikura
• Mid Cap: Japan Steel Works, Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, and Alibaba Health
• Small Cap: JMDC, and Nankai Co.

Note: Nitori from the mid cap group saw a >10% month‑over‑month decrease in short fund counts.

To view the April 2026 Hazeltree Crowding Report and past reports, click here.

Methodology
The Hazeltree Crowding Report is based on anonymized and aggregated positioning data from Hazeltree’s proprietary securities‑finance platform, which reflects trading activity from its hedge fund client base of more than 600 global funds. It calculates the crowding score by sector and region (Americas, EMEA, and APAC) and analyzes both long and short crowding over the month of April 2026.

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About Hazeltree
Hazeltree is the leading provider of treasury and liquidity management and optimization solutions purpose-built for the alternative investment industry. Trusted by more than 600 investment firms managing over $4 trillion in assets, Hazeltree empowers hedge funds, private markets firms, and asset managers to enhance operational efficiency, reduce risk, and unlock alpha. Hazeltree’s cloud-based platform facilitates nearly $8 billion in daily transactions across more than 10,000 funds. By delivering seamless connectivity across counterparties and service providers, Hazeltree enables clients to optimize cash, credit facilities, margin, and fees—driving stronger returns and greater transparency across the investment lifecycle. Hazeltree is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Bournemouth, and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.hazeltree.com.