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lz400today at 10:08 AM1 replyview on HN

I think the collapse of SA is very simple (as long as I'm not wrong about it of course hehe).

SA weren't geniuses, they weren't sophisticated. They just did the same thing everyone else did, all in on semi-conductor, AI and memory positions. They got great returns because 1) everyone got great returns and 2) they were leveraged through their ears. In fact, not only they weren't geniuses, they were pretty bad at risk management, so bad that the first mild drawdown triggered margin calls on their over-leveraged bets and they couldn't cover them.

TLDR: SA didn't have alpha, they just looked good through over-leveraged beta and got caught


Replies

jfrbfbreudhtoday at 10:21 AM

They were the alpha. Leopold called the boom in 2025 and returned 200% in 2025.

He unfortunately got caught with his pants down.

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