Michael Burry’s Scion Asset Management filed its latest quarterly holdings report with the SEC on November 3, 2025, revealing put options on Nvidia as of September 30. The disclosure places the fund manager who famously bet against the housing market before the 2008 financial crisis on the opposite side of the trade from investors piling into AI-linked stocks. Scion has used the same strategy before: the fund held put options on Tesla shares as far back as the first quarter of 2021, a period when that stock’s valuation drew similar skepticism.
Why Scion’s Nvidia put position matters right now
A put option gives its holder the right to sell shares at a set price, making it a tool for profiting from or hedging against a decline. When a fund with Scion’s profile discloses puts on a stock as widely held as Nvidia, it signals a directional view that runs counter to the consensus among large institutional buyers. The information table filed with the SEC lists Scion’s Nvidia put position at 1,000,000 shares as of the end of the third quarter. That figure represents the notional exposure reported on the form, not necessarily the net cost or maximum loss the fund faces, but it quantifies the scale of the bet in concrete terms.
Nvidia sits at the center of spending by cloud and data-center operators racing to build AI infrastructure. Any sustained bearish position against the chipmaker amounts to a wager that current demand, pricing power, or valuation multiples will weaken before the options expire. If Scion increases this position in subsequent filings while hyperscaler spending on AI hardware stays elevated, the gap between the fund’s thesis and the market’s pricing will widen, creating a measurable test of whether Burry’s read on timing proves accurate.
The structure of the trade also matters for risk perception. A put position caps downside at the premium Scion paid for the contracts, unlike a short sale of common stock, which can expose a fund to theoretically unlimited losses. Still, the notional size of 1,000,000 shares underscores that Scion has committed meaningful capital to a view that Nvidia’s current trajectory is vulnerable. For investors who treat Nvidia as a core holding in AI-focused portfolios, that disclosure serves as a reminder that even consensus winners can attract sophisticated skeptics.
SEC filings trace Scion’s pattern of betting against high-valuation stocks
The Nvidia disclosure is not Scion’s first public short-side position on a stock that dominated retail and institutional portfolios. Scion’s 13F filing for the period ending March 31, 2021, listed put options on Tesla. At that time, Tesla’s share price had surged on electric-vehicle enthusiasm and retail trading activity, and the put disclosure drew attention as a contrarian signal from a manager known for large directional bets.
Both filings follow the same regulatory format. Form 13F-HR requires institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in qualifying assets to report their equity holdings within 45 days of each quarter’s end. The filings show position type, share count, and reported value but do not include strike prices, expiration dates, or the manager’s written rationale. That means outside observers can see the direction of the bet but not its exact structure or the timeline Scion expects for a payoff.
The Tesla put position from 2021 and the Nvidia put position from 2025 share a structural similarity: both target companies whose valuations reflect expectations about future technology adoption rather than current earnings alone. Tesla’s stock at the time traded at multiples that assumed rapid growth in vehicle deliveries and energy products. Nvidia’s current valuation rests heavily on projections for continued AI investment, sustained leadership in high-performance chips, and the durability of its ecosystem advantages.
Scion’s public record of using puts against such names has made each new disclosure a focal point for investors who track contrarian indicators. However, the regulatory reports are inherently backward-looking snapshots. By the time a 13F becomes available, the manager may have adjusted, expanded, or closed the position. That lag complicates efforts to treat Burry’s filings as real-time trading signals and instead frames them as evidence of how Scion was positioned at quarter-end.
How investors may interpret Burry’s latest contrarian signal
The quarterly report that includes the Nvidia puts will likely be parsed for clues about how concentrated Scion’s bearish view is relative to its other holdings. A large notional exposure to Nvidia alongside more modest positions elsewhere would suggest a targeted thesis about AI-chip valuations. A more diversified set of puts could instead indicate a broader concern about richly priced growth stocks.
For portfolio managers and individual investors, the main takeaway is less about copying Scion’s exact trade and more about reassessing assumptions embedded in Nvidia’s share price. Burry’s history of high-conviction, asymmetric bets makes his positions newsworthy, but his timing has not always been immediately rewarded. The Tesla puts, for instance, highlighted valuation concerns that many investors shared, even as the stock continued to experience periods of volatility and strong rallies after the initial disclosure.
Ultimately, Scion’s Nvidia position underscores how divergent views can be in markets even when a company appears to be a clear beneficiary of a powerful secular trend. AI infrastructure spending may remain robust, yet Nvidia’s stock could still face pressure if competition intensifies, margins compress, or investor expectations reset. By laying out its stance through required SEC filings, Scion offers a transparent, if delayed, window into one prominent manager’s assessment of that risk-reward balance.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
