Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI hedge fund told investors it is down about 67% in July, days after selling its entire public stock portfolio to Citadel in one block trade to cover margin calls. The fund is still up roughly 78% for 2026, which is the whole story of leverage in one line.
Read the full story: Situational Awareness fell 67% in July, sold book to Citadel →
Transcript
Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI hedge fund was up four hundred and thirty nine percent through June. This morning we learned it's down about sixty seven percent in July. Here's the part that matters. The thesis didn't break. The fund was running roughly four times leverage, so a seventeen percent drop in the underlying book landed as a sixty seven percent hit on the fund. Then the margin calls came, from Goldman, JP Morgan, Bank of America. Six days after telling investors this was one of the best buying opportunities in a year, the whole public book went to Citadel in a single block trade before the open. The five billion dollar Anthropic stake survived, because you can't post a private stake as collateral. He sold the thing he believed in to keep the thing he couldn't sell.