Leopold Aschenbrenner’s hedge fund, Situational Awareness LP, has seen its assets under management crater to roughly $10 billion after being forced to liquidate the bulk of its public stock portfolio to meet margin calls. The fund, which had ballooned to over $20 billion in AUM by mid-2026, was running leveraged positions as high as 4x in AI infrastructure, power, data centers, and Bitcoin miners when the market turned against it.
From $225 million to $20 billion, then back down
Situational Awareness LP launched in late 2024 with approximately $225 million in seed capital. Aschenbrenner, who had gained a following for his lengthy essays on AI timelines and superintelligence, channeled that intellectual conviction into a concentrated portfolio of AI-adjacent equities and crypto mining stocks.
The fund reported net returns of approximately 439% through June 2026, with AUM climbing past $20 billion and some reports suggesting peaks near $24 billion. Public equity exposure alone hit between $5.5 billion and $13.7 billion earlier this year.
A significant correction in AI-related equities in July sent the fund’s leveraged positions into freefall. Around July 30, Situational Awareness liquidated the bulk of its public stock portfolio to Citadel, the Ken Griffin-led trading firm. The forced sale effectively halved the fund’s AUM from over $20 billion to roughly $10 billion.
