Goldman Sachs prime brokers estimated that Asia stock pickers lost 9.4% in October, cutting their gain for the year to 14%, Bloomberg reported on 6 November in a report carried by The Edge Malaysia. Hong Kong-based hedge fund Aspex lost 16% in the month, according to people familiar with the matter.
By our arithmetic, a 9.4% October loss that leaves 14% for the year implies the average Asia stock picker was up about 25.8% at the end of September. Those focused on China fell 11% in October, reducing this year’s return to 16%, Bloomberg reported.
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The key insight: As we read Bloomberg’s report, October’s AI-led selloff took a larger share of Asia stock pickers’ gains than headline returns suggest: Goldman Sachs prime brokers estimated a 9.4% loss that left 14% for the year, which by our arithmetic means those funds had been up about 25.8% at the end of September.
Bloomberg reported that wealthy clients “from Taiwan to Hong Kong faced margin calls on leveraged bets”, according to people familiar with the matter. In Hong Kong, some investors braced for steep losses from structured notes as they were forced to take delivery of shares at a loss.
The report said the swings “inflicted widespread losses in the hedge fund industry, including for giants such as ExodusPoint Capital Management and Millennium Management, though some benefitted from the volatility”. In China, long-only quantitative strategies lost more than 10% in October, according to a report from China Merchants Futures that Bloomberg cited.
Smaller losses were reported too. Valliance Asset Management said in an investor update that its Long-Short Master Fund fell 6.7% in October, and CloudAlpha Capital Management’s $2.8 billion Singularity Master Fund slipped nearly 3%, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Bloomberg reported that the two funds did not respond to requests for comment.
Reported October losses: Aspex 16%, China-focused stock pickers 11%, Asia stock pickers 9.4%, Valliance Long-Short Master Fund 6.7% and CloudAlpha Singularity Master Fund nearly 3%, as reported by Bloomberg on 6 November 2026. The two stock-picker averages are Goldman Sachs prime-broker estimates.
The Friday Session in Asia
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell as much as 5.3% on Friday, and South Korea’s Kospi plunged as much as 8.8%, triggering a circuit breaker, Bloomberg reported. One fund manager it quoted gained: Chris McGuire of Eagle’s View Capital Management said his Japanese convertible-bond arbitrage fund was up an estimated 2.5% or more this month.
McGuire told Bloomberg: “This is as extreme as almost any I have seen since the dot-com bubble”. Hedgeweek, summarising the same report, said the losses “have raised concerns that October’s hedge fund deleveraging is extending into November”.
As we read the report, the pressure ran beyond funds: Bloomberg reported margin calls on wealthy clients from Taiwan to Hong Kong and losses on structured notes.
As we read the fund list, the spread was wide: Aspex lost 16% while CloudAlpha’s Singularity Master Fund slipped nearly 3%, which Bloomberg attributed to it keeping exposures low.
As we read the Friday data, the selling continued into November: the MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell as much as 5.3% and the Kospi as much as 8.8%, per Bloomberg.
Chris McGuire, Eagle’s View Capital Management, to Bloomberg
“This is as extreme as almost any I have seen since the dot-com bubble”
Three Implications
FOR ASIA-FOCUSED FUNDS Goldman Sachs prime brokers estimated a 9.4% October loss for Asia stock pickers and 11% for China-focused ones, Bloomberg reported.
FOR WEALTHY INVESTORS Bloomberg reported margin calls on leveraged bets from Taiwan to Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the matter.
FOR THE STRATEGIES THAT GAINED McGuire said his convertible-bond arbitrage fund was up an estimated 2.5% or more this month, per Bloomberg.
The analysis says: “Conflating these clocks produces the most common analytical errors of the moment.”
As we read it, leveraged positions run on a shorter clock than the AI buildout itself: margin calls arrive in days. The analysis does not discuss these funds or this selloff.
What Is Not Established
The fund figures come from Bloomberg’s reporting, much of it citing people familiar with the matter or Goldman Sachs prime-broker estimates; we did not see Goldman’s data or the funds’ letters. We did not contact Aspex, Valliance, CloudAlpha or Goldman Sachs. The 25.8% end-of-September figure is our arithmetic from Bloomberg’s two numbers, not a reported figure.
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Goldman Sachs prime brokers estimated that Asia stock pickers lost 9.4% in October, leaving a 14% gain for the year, and Aspex lost 16%, Bloomberg reported. By our arithmetic, those funds had been up about 25.8% at the end of September.
A note on sourcing. The fund figures are from Bloomberg’s report of 6 November 2026 as carried by The Edge Malaysia, with Hedgeweek’s summary of the same report; many cite people familiar with the matter or Goldman Sachs prime-broker estimates, which we did not see. The implied end-September figure is our arithmetic. We did not contact the funds or Goldman Sachs.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
