Exclusive insights | Alternatives outlook Q1 2026

30/04/2026

As demand for alternatives continues to broaden beyond institutional investors, the ability to see where capital is flowing from wealth investors is fast becoming a critical advantage for fund managers.

Through a new capability classifying subscription activity on Euroclear FundsPlace®, Euroclear now offers an exclusive window into how our global network of financial intermediaries are allocating capital across asset classes, strategies and regions.

This dataset is spanning €10 billion in recent subscription activity from Euroclear’s financial intermediary clients¹ across 2,500 of the alternative funds on Euroclear FundsPlace. Our aim is to provide alternative asset managers with the granular intelligence required to optimise distribution strategies and identify emerging pockets of demand.

Total subscriptions into alternative funds on Euroclear FundsPlace grew again in Q1 2026, showing that demand for these funds is not slowing down despite huge macroeconomic uncertainty.

This update shares key insights from the dataset, which could provide clues around how intermediaries and their clients might be responding to two significant developments in the global landscape.

High profile gatings of private credit funds in the US.
Market volatility related to conflict and geopolitical tensions.

“Alternative funds are long-term investments, yet our data shows how quickly investors can adjust positioning as macroeconomic conditions evolve.”

Coren Lass, Product Manager – Alternatives, Euroclear

Regional variations in private credit activity

Q1 2026 saw a moderate decline in allocations to private credit. While it remains a core pillar of alternatives portfolios, its share of total alternatives subscriptions on Euroclear FundsPlace decreased by 10 percentage points compared to the final quarter of 2025.

However, our data reveals that this may not be a global retreat, but a nuanced regional shift.

Our data suggests two stories appearing by region².

While Asia represented 46% of alternative subscriptions this quarter, the data shows a lower level of additional capital directed toward private credit compared to previous periods.

European allocators – who accounted for 48% of the Q1 mix – maintained a more consistent level of subscription activity for this asset class.

While it is hard to draw conclusions from one quarter of data, it will be interesting to see whether a pattern might form around how wealth investors in different regions respond to headlines.

Heightened volatility and the turn to hedge funds

Geopolitical tensions and fluctuating oil prices injected fresh volatility into the markets, driving uncertainty in early 2026. While alternatives are long-term investment strategies, hedge funds are known to be agile adapt to fast-changing market conditions. So, did subscriptions into hedge funds increase in the quarter as commodity and stock prices fluctuated widely?

We observed that hedge fund strategies did indeed see increased interest during this period, accounting for 36% of the subscription activity we tracked. This put hedge funds as the highest contributor to subscriptions among alternative asset classes, reversing the order of previous quarters.

Optimise your distribution strategy with insights

At Euroclear FundsPlace, we aim to provide unique market intelligence that helps fund managers transition from broad assumptions to data-driven planning.

We will continue to monitor these trends as the year progresses. If you are interested in exploring how our data insights can support your business goals, we invite you to connect with our team.

"As we support more clients across diverse alternative strategies, it’s rewarding to see our proprietary data validate the conversations we have with them every day."

Premal Vadgama, Global Head of Sales – Alternatives, Euroclear

¹This dataset is derived from the real activity of Euroclear's financial intermediary clients in Europe, Asia and US Offshore & Latin America transacting through Euroclear FundsPlace.

²Our data is drawn from 26 European and 9 Asian client accounts with subscriptions of at least €10m during the period, alongside additional clients from both regions with smaller allocations.