Scion Asset Management Bearish Put Option Disclosures

Michael Burry’s quarterly regulatory disclosures routinely ignite sensationalized financial headlines regarding apocalyptic stock market crashes. Derivatives tracking within the Michael Burry Scion 13F portfolio tracker explains why headline notional values on Form 13F put options are fundamentally misleading.

Under SEC Form 13F reporting rules, institutional managers disclosing long put option holdings must report the aggregate notional value of the underlying shares—calculated by multiplying the strike price by the number of option contracts times 100—rather than the actual cash premium spent purchasing the contracts.

Consequently, an eye-catching headline stating Burry placed a $1.6 billion short bet against the S&P 500 or Nasdaq 100 often represents an out-of-the-money put spread or tail-risk hedge requiring less than $20 million to $30 million in actual paid capital, representing a modest insurance hedge rather than an existential directional gamble.