Los fondos de cobertura tecnológicos sufren su peor mes desde 2008 por el desplome de la IA

Technology-focused hedge funds suffered their worst monthly performance since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis in July, as a brutal sell-off in artificial intelligence stocks triggered forced liquidations and wiped billions from some of the industry's most prominent names.

New data from Hedge Fund Research shows tech-focused funds dropped 7 percent in July, the worst period for the strategy since January 2008, according to The Telegraph. The downturn was driven by a plunge in U.S. tech giants and Asian semiconductor groups, unravelling months of gains built on the AI investment boom that had propelled hedge fund industry assets to a record $5.6 trillion by the end of the second quarter.telegraph+1

A Crowded Trade Unwinds

The damage was concentrated in what had become a dangerously overcrowded trade. Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ↘ 0.84% estimates show its high-beta basket fell 41 percent, its technology basket 48 percent, and its AI basket 38 percent during the month. Even after a partial recovery, high-beta momentum finished July down 28 percent — its worst month on record.sharecafe

The Nasdaq 100 fell more than 5 percent in July, while popular AI-linked stocks including CoreWeave ↘ 2.42%, Micron ↘ 1.23%, and SanDisk shed more than 35 percent of their value.businessinsider+2

The rout's most dramatic casualty was Situational Awareness, the AI-focused fund run by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner. The fund, which had used as much as 400 percent leverage, plunged 67 percent in July, forcing a distressed sale of its public equity holdings to Ken Griffin's Citadel after margin calls from prime brokers Bank of America ↗ 0.95%, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase ↗ 0.39%, Reuters reported. The fund's assets collapsed from roughly $45 billion at the start of July to approximately $10 billion.qz+2

Wider Fallout

Other prominent funds were also caught in the downturn. Bloomberg data showed Altimeter Capital lost 11 percent, while Balyasny Asset Management and Verition Fund Management lost 1.5 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively. Marshall Wace's Eureka stock-trading fund posted a 6.9 percent decline, according to Business Insider.telegraph

Kenneth Heinz, president of HFR, said: "Hedge funds navigated an extremely intense and volatile trading environment in July, with exposure to negative technology momentum contributing to the largest decline for technology hedge funds since 2008."telegraph

Market stability returned only after Citadel's acquisition of the Situational Awareness portfolio, which triggered a record one-day rally as forced selling reversed. But the 30-year Treasury yield ended July at 5.27 percent, up 36 basis points, with its real yield reaching a 15-year high — a reminder that the conditions fueling the AI trade's reversal have not dissipated.sharecafe