‘Big Short’ trader Michael Burry has placed new wagers against the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100

In his most recent portfolio report, Michael Burry disclosed large bets against the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100. The bets won’t shock his devoted supporters.

A Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday revealed that at the end of June, Burry’s Scion Asset Management held bearish put options on 200,000 shares of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, an exchange-traded fund that follows the key US stock index.

The «The Big Short» investor also revealed that he owns 200,000 shares of the Nasdaq-100 tech-tracking Invesco QQQ Trust. On June 30, the combined notional value of the two positions was a hefty $1.6 billion, but Burry will have paid only a small portion of that sum thanks to his options.

The two investments might be hedges designed to lessen the hit to Scion’s portfolio in the event that the stock market declines and the value of its long positions declines. However, they can also be an indication that Burry is gloomy about the two index funds, which are largely comprised of stocks with high valuations like Tesla and Nvidia.

It’s important to remember that Burry stated this spring that he was «wrong to say sell» and that he has recently purchased a variety of equities. But while only being a little off their record highs, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 have increased by around 16% and 38%, respectively, this year.

It’s plausible that Burry is negative on the indices and betting they would crash given his previous reservations about stocks and ominous predictions of catastrophic disasters.