Hey, Ross here:
People talk about “smart money” like it’s one big team.
It isn’t.
The biggest players on Wall Street compete just as viciously with each other as they do with retail traders.
And one of the wildest examples just played out in real time.
But first, take a look at the chart below.
Chart of the Day
This chart shows how much money individual investors are pulling out of technology stocks.
And the latest move is off the charts.
Retail traders sold a net $316 million worth of tech stocks in a single day.
Over three days, the total reached $643 million.
That is the heaviest retail tech selling on record.
But before I explain why that matters…
Let me tell you about Leopold Aschenbrenner.
Leopold is a 24-year-old former OpenAI researcher who built one of the hottest hedge funds on Wall Street.
His fund, Situational Awareness, made huge leveraged bets on AI bottleneck stocks.
And for a while, those bets worked beautifully.
The fund gained 439% through the first half of 2026.
Then the trade turned. These same stocks got hammered.
The fund lost roughly 67% in July.
And because Leopold had used borrowed money to make his positions larger…
He could not simply wait for the stocks to recover.
He needed cash – fast.
That is when Ken Griffin stepped in.
Griffin’s Citadel bought most of the fund’s public-stock portfolio at a huge discount after Situational Awareness came under pressure to sell assets or raise fresh capital.
Citadel specifically picked up the portion financed with leverage from the fund’s brokers.
Leopold’s thesis about AI was likely right.
But that didn’t matter. He had to sell.
And when one side has no choice…
The other side usually gets the better price.
So what does any of that have to do with retail investors dumping tech at a record pace?
Everything.
I explain below.
Insight of the Day
If the “smart money” manipulates its own – think about what it does to the retail crowd
Look at what happened to Leopold Aschenbrenner.
He was not some clueless amateur.
He understood AI better than almost anyone on Wall Street.
His fund had already made a fortune.
But he used too much leverage.
And once the trade moved against him, that leverage took away his choices.
His brokers requested additional margin – cash he did not have.
So Citadel waited until Leopold was under maximum pressure…
Then stepped in and bought at a huge discount from a desperate seller.
That is how Wall Street works.
When one player becomes trapped, another presses the advantage.
Now think about the retail crowd.
Retail traders tend to buy the same hot stocks…
Place stops around the same obvious levels…
And panic together when prices start falling.
Big funds know that.
They know where the weak hands are.
They know when fear is building.
And they know that pushing a crowded stock through support can trigger a new wave of selling.
Stops get hit.
Margin calls arrive.
Nervous traders rush for the exit.
Then stronger hands can come in and buy at much better prices.
That is why today’s chart matters.
Retail traders just dumped tech at the fastest pace on record.
And when that much selling hits the market at once…
Someone else is usually waiting on the other side.
I want to know who.
I want to see where the selling suddenly gets absorbed…
Where volume explodes…
And where a stock refuses to fall any further.
Those are the footprints of the “smart money”.
And tomorrow, I’ll be showing you exactly how I track these footprints into explosive setups…
So keep an eye out in your inbox for the details tomorrow morning.
In the meantime, I’m taking advantage of Leopold’s downfall myself.
Here are the 10 crashed AI stocks I just sunk $100,000 into.
Customer Story of the Day
“I started a few months ago and started implementing the simple strategy with $1000 and have seen a return of over $300.
Ross makes trading very understandable and if you follow along you will make money even with the losers.
Probably the best thing you learn is risk management!”
Ross Givens
Editor, Stock Surge Daily
