How did Leopold's hedge fund get hunted down? Former hedge fund manager and financial commentator Martin Shkreli breaks down the details of this liquidation event, the 'Darwinian rules' of Wall Street short-selling hunts, and the underlying mechanics of closing large positions on his podcast: 1. 4x leverage triggered a violent liquidation: The SALP fund had assets totaling $45 billion (including $10 billion in Anthropic equity) and used 4x leverage through its prime broker, bringing its total gross market value (GMV) to $120 billion. When publicly traded stocks dropped 25%, its net equity quickly shrank and even faced the risk of going negative, forcing the prime broker to liquidate its positions. 2. Wall Street's Darwinian hunting tactics: When the market learned the fund was being forced to liquidate, multiple hedge funds adopted a 'shooting against the fund' strategy—selling similar holdings in advance and aggressively shorting, accelerating its collapse. Truly a case of 'kicking you when you're down.' 3. Citadel and the giants' bloody bidding war: Citadel, Millennium, and Jane Street participated in a closed-door auction for SALP's remaining assets. Buyers like Citadel scooped up its stock portfolio at massive discounts of 20%-50%, instantly pocketing billions in unrealized gains. It’s a reminder that despite strong performance from OpenAI, Anthropic, and other tech giants, short-term stock price movements are dictated by the 5% of marginal buyers and sellers using leverage. When the most fragile capital panics and flees, even the smallest negative signals can trigger a nosedive.