Ken Griffin’s Citadel has shed more than 80% of the aggregate risk it took on from Situational Awareness, executing nearly 100 block trades worth more than $4 billion in about three weeks.

The July rescue removed the threat of a disorderly liquidation and helped battered AI stocks find a bottom. The question now is whether the rescuer then became a source of pressure on the same trade.

Citadel’s discounted purchase helped its flagship Wellington fund gain 5.9% in July, its best month since 2022.

“Only Citadel could have delivered a solution of this scale on this timeline,” Griffin wrote in an investor letter reported by the Financial Times.

Did Citadel Sell Into the AI Rebound?

Situational Awareness’s June filing showed $5.7 billion in Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) and $5.6 billion in Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), roughly 56% of the disclosed portfolio. Other large holdings included Bloom Energy Corp. (NYSE:BE), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE:TSM) and Nebius Group N.V. (NASDAQ:NBIS).

The price action makes the question plausible. Sandisk closed at $1,015.89 on July 29, surged 26% the next day after Citadel’s purchase eased fears of further forced selling, and reached $1,786.85 by Aug. 17. It fell 9% the following session and closed Thursday at $1,600.62.

Micron lost 28.7% in July, recovered above $1,000 on Monday and finished Thursday at $974.33.

Citadel’s purchase helped remove the forced-selling overhang. The rebound that followed gave the firm a window to find buyers for billions of dollars in positions.

What $4 Billion of Block Trades Can Do

Block trades are typically negotiated away from the public order book and reported after execution, so they do not translate directly into $4 billion of open-market selling. But buyers may demand discounts, hedge their new exposure or trim correlated names. Expectations of further blocks can also leave an overhang.

Citadel said the sales included “the largest intraday block trades of the year in 10 different names,” Reuters reported, citing Griffin’s investor letter.

Citadel has not disclosed the stocks or trade dates, so its role in the declines remains unclear. The 80% refers to risk, not shares.

Traders See Little Chance of an AI Bust

Polymarket traders assign just a 13% chance of a severe AI-industry downturn by the end of 2026, with about $2.9 million traded on the market.

The contract requires at least three extreme events within 90 days, including possible 50% declines in major AI stocks or the bankruptcy of OpenAI or Anthropic.

The low odds suggest traders do not expect the recent volatility to become a full-scale collapse, even if Citadel’s sales may have created near-term pressure in individual stocks.

Citadel did not necessarily kill the rebound. But the rally its rescue helped create also supplied the liquidity Griffin needed to unload most of the risk.

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