Leopold Aschenbrenner was up 439% — then 4x leverage wiped out 67% of his $45B AI hedge fund in one month

Leopold Aschenbrenner, 25, was erstwhile hailed arsenic the large German genius of AI trading.

Financial Times reported that this erstwhile OpenAI researcher delivered gains of 1,551% since opening his hedge money Situational Awareness successful 2024. Within the archetypal six months of 2026, Situational Awareness was already up a staggering 439%.

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​According to CNBC, Situational Awareness held $45 cardinal successful assets astatine its peak, mostly successful companies tied to the AI information halfway buildout. Bigwigs successful tech similar GitHub's CEO Nat Friedman and Stripe's co-founders Patrick and John Collison helped prop up Aschenbrenner's increasing empire.​

But adjacent though Aschenbrenner made immoderate large picks successful the AI bull run, helium was caught disconnected defender by a nasty marketplace correction.

Not lone did the companies Aschenbrenner held instrumentality a nosedive, but helium was besides losing large connected abbreviated positions successful bequest bundle names similar Adobe.

That would beryllium disappointing, but not needfully devastating, had it not been for 1 thing: Borrowing money. A study from MarketWatch suggested immoderate of Aschenbrenner's positions had arsenic overmuch arsenic 4 times leverage, meaning prices moved up oregon down 4 times the asset's marketplace value.

When semiconductor stocks soared, Situational Awareness was fundamentally printing billions successful gains. However, erstwhile volatility returned to these high-flying names, the borderline calls from brokers flooded in, putting Aschenbrenner connected the brink of liquidation.

According to The New York Times, Aschenbrenner frantically phoned for enactment from Wall Street firms to rise currency ASAP. On July 30, Situational Awareness narrowly avoided demolition by inking a woody to merchantability $10 cardinal worthy of its nationalist banal to marketplace shaper Citadel.​

In a missive to investors obtained by Financial Times, these events led to a 67% diminution successful Situational Awareness's portfolio for July.

Aschenbrenner took "full responsibility" for these losses, telling investors, "These were precise costly scars, but I americium dedicated to ensuring they volition beryllium invaluable lessons for our enactment and for myself arsenic we determination forward.​

MoneyWise reached retired to Situational Awareness for comment, but we didn't perceive backmost by the clip of publication.​