AI-Focused Hedge Fund Manager Leopold Aschenbrenner Liquidates Positions After Losses Exceed $40 Billion Ahead of Wedding
Leopold Aschenbrenner, a Wall Street “AI stock guru” from the post-2000 generation, suffered a forced liquidation after trading with high leverage, with losses exceeding $40 billion, according to the source. The day after he exited, most of the stocks he had previously held surged. He is also scheduled to get married this weekend. Aschenbrenner was formerly a researcher at OpenAI. In 2024, he founded the hedge fund Situational Awareness and used nearly four times leverage to bet on AI hardware stocks including SK Hynix and SanDisk. The fund’s return exceeded 400% in the first half of 2026, while its cumulative return exceeded 2,000% and its assets under management at one point reached $45 billion. Several of its major holdings then fell sharply in succession. On July 30, Situational Awareness was forced to liquidate all of its positions. The fund’s main memory-chip and AI holdings subsequently rose as a group. The source described the episode as a rapid reversal from apparent success to an exit, occurring just before Aschenbrenner’s weekend wedding. Aschenbrenner’s background fits the image of a “genius” celebrated by Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Born in Berlin, Germany, in 2001, he entered Columbia University at age 15 and graduated at the top of his class at 19, majoring in mathematical statistics and economics. While at Columbia, he won several major academic awards and worked as a research assistant to the prominent economics and political-science professors Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Shapiro. After graduation, he joined OpenAI, which was then attracting significant attention, and became a core researcher on its “superalignment” team. That experience gave him exposure to leading-edge AI technology and the industry’s underlying dynamics. In 2024, OpenAI fired Aschenbrenner. He later published a lengthy essay titled “Situational Awareness: The Next Decade,” which generated significant attention in the industry. Its central argument was that artificial general intelligence, or AGI, would arrive much sooner than most people expected, and that the biggest constraints on its development would not be algorithms but infrastructure such as electricity and computing capacity. The essay’s insights quickly won the backing and investment of prominent Silicon Valley figures, including the founder of Stripe and a former GitHub CEO. In September 2024, Aschenbrenner founded the hedge fund Situational Awareness, using the same name as the essay. The fund grew rapidly. At the end of 2024, its portfolio was valued at approximately $225 million. Its size then nearly doubled each quarter, reaching approximately $20 billion by September 2025, the first anniversary of its founding. Its return was eight times that of the S&P 500. By early July 2026, the fund’s assets under management had at one point expanded to $45 billion, while its return for the first half of the year reached 439%. Aschenbrenner was consequently regarded in the industry as an “AI stock guru.” The source presented his story as a classic example of monetizing knowledge: using deep insight into industry trends to achieve major success in the capital markets. The report cited Broker China and Cailian Press.
Aschenbrenner was formerly a researcher at OpenAI. In 2024, he founded the hedge fund Situational Awareness and used nearly four times leverage to bet on AI hardware stocks including SK Hynix and SanDisk. The fund’s return exceeded 400% in the first half of 2026, while its cumulative return exceeded 2,000% and its assets under management at one point reached $45 billion.
Several of its major holdings then fell sharply in succession. On July 30, Situational Awareness was forced to liquidate all of its positions. The fund’s main memory-chip and AI holdings subsequently rose as a group. The source described the episode as a rapid reversal from apparent success to an exit, occurring just before Aschenbrenner’s weekend wedding.
Aschenbrenner’s background fits the image of a “genius” celebrated by Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Born in Berlin, Germany, in 2001, he entered Columbia University at age 15 and graduated at the top of his class at 19, majoring in mathematical statistics and economics. While at Columbia, he won several major academic awards and worked as a research assistant to the prominent economics and political-science professors Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Shapiro.
After graduation, he joined OpenAI, which was then attracting significant attention, and became a core researcher on its “superalignment” team. That experience gave him exposure to leading-edge AI technology and the industry’s underlying dynamics.
In 2024, OpenAI fired Aschenbrenner. He later published a lengthy essay titled “Situational Awareness: The Next Decade,” which generated significant attention in the industry. Its central argument was that artificial general intelligence, or AGI, would arrive much sooner than most people expected, and that the biggest constraints on its development would not be algorithms but infrastructure such as electricity and computing capacity.
The essay’s insights quickly won the backing and investment of prominent Silicon Valley figures, including the founder of Stripe and a former GitHub CEO. In September 2024, Aschenbrenner founded the hedge fund Situational Awareness, using the same name as the essay.
The fund grew rapidly. At the end of 2024, its portfolio was valued at approximately $225 million. Its size then nearly doubled each quarter, reaching approximately $20 billion by September 2025, the first anniversary of its founding. Its return was eight times that of the S&P 500. By early July 2026, the fund’s assets under management had at one point expanded to $45 billion, while its return for the first half of the year reached 439%.
Aschenbrenner was consequently regarded in the industry as an “AI stock guru.” The source presented his story as a classic example of monetizing knowledge: using deep insight into industry trends to achieve major success in the capital markets.
The report cited Broker China and Cailian Press.