“AI Stock God” Trading Faces Drawdown, Seeking New Capital Support

Odaily reported that the "AI Stock God" Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness Fund accumulated a 439% gain before June 2026 but suffered heavy losses during the AI sector sell-off in July. The fund is currently communicating with existing investors and lenders to seek additional capital, and is offering some LPs the opportunity to purchase assets from the portfolio.

Sources say this capital communication appears more like a temporary measure rather than an organized new fundraising round. The fund had previously used leverage through prime brokers at multiple major investment banks to amplify its AI trading exposure, turning the market downturn into further financial pressure.

In a letter to investors on July 24, Aschenbrenner acknowledged that the fund failed to avoid the market shock, particularly noting significant impacts in Asian markets. However, he believes this sell-off may represent the best buying opportunity since early 2025 and plans to open a new capital window on August 1, while viewing Anthropic's potential IPO as a catalyst for the second half of the year.

According to disclosures, some holdings experienced significant declines in July, with Oracle and AMD falling about 20% for the month, while Nebius, Saronic AI, Bloom Energy, SanDisk, and others saw even larger drops. The Nasdaq 100 index fell about 10% in July, and the Korea Composite Stock Price Index declined by roughly one-third.

Currently, due to the lack of specific drawdown data for the fund, it is unclear whether this fundraising is a passive capital replenishment driven by leverage pressure or an active opportunity to increase positions. However, market trends suggest it is closer to the former. If forced selling occurs, the deleveraging process could also create discount opportunities for assets whose fundamentals have not significantly changed.