Michael Burry's Portfolio

Michael Burry's portfolio is one of the most closely watched in the investment world, despite being relatively small compared to major hedge funds. As the founder and manager of Scion Asset Management, Burry rose to fame for predicting and profiting from the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis — a story immortalized in Michael Lewis's book and the subsequent film The Big Short. His quarterly 13F filings routinely generate headlines and social media frenzy.

Track Scion Asset Management's latest holdings on the Scion Asset Management fund page.

Who Is Michael Burry?

Michael Burry is a physician-turned-investor who founded Scion Capital in 2000 after building a following through stock analysis posts on internet message boards. His early performance was exceptional — Scion Capital returned 489% (net of fees) from inception through 2008, versus a roughly flat S&P 500 over the same period.

Burry's analytical approach is rooted in deep fundamental research. He is known for reading SEC filings exhaustively, including the fine print that most investors skip. This obsessive detail orientation led him to discover the deteriorating quality of subprime mortgage bonds years before the broader market recognized the risk.

After closing the original Scion Capital fund, Burry launched Scion Asset Management as a personal investment vehicle. The fund is significantly smaller than its predecessor but continues to attract attention because of Burry's track record and his willingness to take bold, unconventional positions.

Michael Burry's Investment Approach

Burry's investing style is difficult to categorize neatly. He combines elements of value investing, contrarian betting, and macro trading in ways that shift dramatically over time.

Deep value analysis forms the foundation. Burry looks for securities trading well below intrinsic value, often in areas of the market that other investors are ignoring or actively avoiding. He has described himself as a value investor at heart, influenced by Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett's early career.

Contrarian positioning is the defining feature. Burry is drawn to trades where consensus opinion is strongly one-directional. He bets against crowded trades, overvalued sectors, and popular narratives. This approach requires conviction and tolerance for being early — sometimes painfully so.

Macro overlays have become more prominent in recent years. Burry has expressed views on inflation, interest rates, passive investing bubbles, and currency risk through his portfolio positioning. These macro bets are expressed through put options on indexes, sector ETFs, and individual stocks.

Analyzing Michael Burry's 13F Portfolio

Interpreting Burry's 13F filings requires understanding several important nuances that are often lost in headline-driven coverage.

High turnover is the norm. Unlike Warren Buffett, who holds positions for decades, Burry frequently builds and exits positions within one or two quarters. A stock appearing in one filing may be completely absent from the next. This makes it risky to copy his trades based on 13F data alone, since the filing reflects positions from up to 45 days prior.

Options positions appear as shares. When Burry buys put options, the 13F reports them as the equivalent number of underlying shares with a "put" designation. The actual capital at risk is the option premium paid, which is typically a fraction of the notional value. This means headlines screaming "Burry bets $1.6 billion against the market" can be wildly misleading.

The portfolio is small. Scion's total disclosed holdings often total a few hundred million dollars. Compare this to Bridgewater Associates managing over $100 billion or Berkshire Hathaway with hundreds of billions in public equities. Burry's positions, while intellectually interesting, represent a fundamentally different scale.

Not all positions are disclosed. 13F filings only cover U.S.-listed equities, options, and certain convertible securities. Short positions, foreign holdings, credit instruments, and private investments are not included. Burry's actual portfolio may look very different from what the 13F reveals.

Notable Michael Burry Trades and Positions

Burry's most famous trades illustrate his willingness to take unconventional positions and endure significant drawdowns before being proven right.

The subprime short (2005-2008). Burry identified deteriorating underwriting standards in subprime mortgages by reading individual loan-level data in mortgage bond prospectuses. He purchased credit default swaps against subprime mortgage-backed securities — essentially insurance policies that would pay off if the bonds defaulted. His investors grew frustrated as premiums ate into returns for two years before the housing market collapsed and the position generated massive profits.

GameStop (2019-2020). Burry was an early investor in GameStop, buying shares in 2019 when the stock was trading in the low single digits. He identified the stock as deeply undervalued relative to its cash flows and pushed for share buybacks. He exited before the 2021 meme stock explosion, but his early involvement brought attention to the opportunity.

Big Tech puts. Burry has periodically purchased put options against major technology stocks and indexes, expressing a view that the sector is overvalued. These positions have generated significant media coverage, though the actual outcomes have been mixed given the difficulty of timing market turns.

China and emerging markets. Burry has taken positions in Chinese internet companies like Alibaba and JD.com during periods of extreme pessimism, reflecting his contrarian instinct to buy what others are selling.

How to Track Michael Burry's Latest Moves

The best source for tracking Burry's portfolio is Scion Asset Management's quarterly 13F filing with the SEC. These filings are available within 45 days of each quarter's end.

On HedgeTrace, you can view Scion Asset Management's complete holdings, including position sizes, quarter-over-quarter changes, and new buys and sells. This provides a clearer picture than raw SEC data by organizing the information for easy analysis.

However, responsible use of this data means understanding its limitations. Given Burry's high turnover, a position from last quarter's filing may already be closed. The filing also does not reveal his short positions, which are often a significant part of his strategy. For context on how short selling works and its role in portfolio construction, see our dedicated guide.

Michael Burry's Portfolio — What It Tells Us About Contrarian Investing

Burry's approach offers a masterclass in contrarian investing — but also a warning about the difficulty of executing it successfully.

The rewards can be spectacular. Burry's subprime trade generated returns exceeding 400% for his remaining investors. His early GameStop position returned multiples on invested capital. When he is right, the magnitude of the payoff often compensates for periods of underperformance.

But the path is painful. Burry's investors during the subprime trade nearly revolted, demanding their money back as the position lost value quarter after quarter. Being early and being wrong look identical in real time. Contrarian investing requires not just analytical skill but also the structural ability to survive being wrong — whether through locked-up capital, personal wealth, or sheer conviction.

Burry's portfolio also illustrates the difference between contrarian and consensus. Not every unpopular opinion is correct. The value of studying Burry's 13F is not to blindly copy his trades but to understand the thesis behind each position and evaluate it independently.

How Michael Burry Compares to Other Famous Investors

Burry's approach sits in stark contrast to many of the top hedge fund managers. Where Ray Dalio uses systematic risk parity and Bill Ackman takes concentrated activist positions, Burry operates as a one-man research shop making idiosyncratic bets.

His fund size gives him flexibility that larger managers lack. He can take meaningful positions in small- and mid-cap stocks, enter and exit quickly, and express views through options without moving markets. This structural advantage is also a limitation — Scion cannot absorb the kind of capital that institutions need to deploy.

For investors interested in tracking multiple fund managers simultaneously, the HedgeTrace fund rankings provide a comparative view of portfolio sizes, concentration levels, and sector allocations across the industry.

The Bottom Line on Michael Burry's Portfolio

Michael Burry's 13F portfolio is a fascinating window into one of the investment world's most unconventional minds. His contrarian bets, high turnover, and willingness to challenge market consensus make every quarterly filing an event.

But the most important lesson from studying Burry's portfolio is context. The 13F shows you what he held at a single point in time, not what he holds now, why he holds it, or what he is doing on the short side. Use HedgeTrace's Scion Asset Management page as a starting point for research, not as a trading signal.