degentrading
Former TradFi Options Market Maker, Delegate at Lido DAO
Semiconductors could gain from desks buying back exposure sold ahead of leveraged-product rebalancing if markets recover even mildly. The expected selling flow was about $16B, and a strong signal also favored leveraged semiconductor exposure through SOXL and Nebius. There is no clear read on whether the market has bottomed over a longer horizon. x.comÂ
Semiconductors will become the cleanest balance sheet in the room as borrowing costs rise, so capital flows should consolidate there. High yields are a symptom of massive AI capex, and profitable, high-gross-margin companies are best placed to weather them, while debt-heavy, low-growth private equity and private credit are worst placed, with more write-downs. Much of the bond price drop is risk-free rate repricing: Meta's Hyperion data-center bond spread has actually tightened 40bp. x.comÂ
Tech and semiconductor bounces are mainly driven by less urgent hedge-fund selling rather than fresh buying. Per Goldman Sachs, tech is still being sold amid very low activity; there is no sign risk has been added yet. The unwind may be nearing its end, especially as hyperscalers stick to capex plans and Q3 semiconductor earnings look likely to be positive. Less crowded positioning and more normal multiples leave a healthier base for a longer-term rebuild. x.comÂ
Semiconductor earnings have outpaced prices, making the selloff look more like forced positioning than a broken growth case. Since January 2025, the SOX rose about 114% while reconstructed forward earnings rose about 198%; the estimate is approximate. Hedge funds sold global tech at a greater-than-three-standard-deviation pace in October 5-16, a pattern seen near earlier lows, though another sharp flush could come before a reversal. x.comÂ
SOXL holders hoping the bull run resumes more slowly misunderstand leveraged ETFs, which move fast in both directions. US leveraged semiconductor ETF assets went from $14B to $163B in three years and now sit at $100B, a 39% drawdown. Even after that, assets remain seven times where the trade started, so the bubble has not popped, only exhaled, and those trapped in 3x products face more of the same. x.comÂ
Semiconductors could capture scarce spot compute's value if its forward curve holds. Compute trades in deep contango, while chip stocks price in little of that value; near-term moves are unpredictable. That makes the sector very bullish. The earlier lab-funding risk looks less acute: Anthropic should hold nearly $200B cash after its IPO and is operating-cash-flow profitable. Even with 2029 capex cuts, chips look cheap if future buyers do not default. x.com x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
War escalation and the midterms will keep investors from increasing gross or net semiconductor exposure. SOXX will take out its July lows before any sustained rally; against a suggested 5% dip and 50% rebound, the path is '5% down then 100% down.' x.com x.comÂ
The 3x leveraged semiconductor ETF is exposed to a chip-stock reversal because leveraged ETF decay worsens as volatility rises: the bigger the bubble gets on the way up, the faster capital is destroyed on the way down. Market makers have not marked up future chip volatility enough, making way-out-of-the-money 2028 puts highly likely to triple, though 5x-plus returns would require nailing the timing. Unleveraged semiconductor funds carry no such decay. x.com x.comÂ
Semiconductors look attractive because SMH's largest volume since July is appearing as it defends last month's and last week's lows. This area is the concentrated spot for the ETF's largest institutional investment ever. x.comÂ
Some semiconductor stocks have returned to reasonable valuations as fundamentals improve, making recent declines buying opportunities. Many had traded at two to three times their median valuations; the correction brought some back toward normal, while sustained AI spending should benefit suppliers for years. x.comÂ
Leveraged ETFs such as the 3x semiconductor bull fund should never be owned: it lost a third of its value in a single-day crash while individual chip stocks fell only 5%-10%. x.comÂ
Semiconductors look relatively cheap against the S&P 500, while their earnings are growing much faster, barring an EPS reset. The selloff looks overdone, though that does not mean it reverses tomorrow. x.comÂ
