Burry Sells Out of Top Holding at an 8.5-Year Low
Michael Burry has sold out of his top holding for now, with the Oct. 6 disclosure placing the sale at an 8.5-year low. MarketWatch
That Oct. 6 disclosure followed a series of reductions documented in prior filings. On Sept. 9, Burry sold December 2026 puts on Nvidia (NVDA) and Palantir (PLTR) amid portfolio-wide cuts. Yahoo Finance A put is a contract that gains when a stock falls. Selling it closes that downside position. In connection with those put sales, he said he is "pulling back" on risk.
The put sales followed a directional bet disclosed late last year. Burry had gone short Palantir and Nvidia, borrowing shares to sell in hopes of buying them back cheaper, according to a report published Dec. 31, 2025. MarketWatch That same report noted he had recently shuttered his hedge fund Scion Asset Management.
Earlier filings provide additional background. An investment in Alibaba worth more than $11 million was his largest holding as of June 30, in a 2024 disclosure. A 2023 filing showed the purchase of 2,500 puts against shares of Booking Holdings. He tweeted the word "sell" on Jan. 31, in another 2023 disclosure.
The broader context here is balance-sheet contraction around concentrated exposure. Closing the December 2026 puts in NVDA and PLTR removes long-dated downside contracts and the need to manage them to a distant expiry. Liquidating the largest long in parallel cuts exposure to one name and lowers funding needs at once. Taken together, the sequence compresses gross exposure on both sides rather than rotating capital from one theme to another. The exit was complete. The language leaves the door open.
In my view, tenor and level carry the information. December 2026 expiry is far enough out to hold substantial time value and event risk. Selling that downside after shorting the same names gives up extra payoff if they fall, in exchange for premium and less margin tied up. Doing so alongside a full sale of the top long at an 8.5-year low indicates less tolerance for holding costs, price swings and concentration. Cost basis is not disclosed, but selling at a multi-year low locks in the loss profile and frees cash.
Looking at what this means for counterparts tracking these flows, the emphasis shifts to operations and capacity. Listed puts that are sold must be margined, monitored for early exercise, and managed through corporate actions until expiry or closure. Short stock positions require borrow, recall management and dividend liability. When the management vehicle has been shuttered, brokerage treatment, mandate continuity for remaining positions, and the timing of later filings become central. For risk desks, short equity plus sale of long-dated puts in the same names plus liquidation of the principal long points to lower net and gross exposure, with room to re-engage kept by the qualifier for now.
