Goldman's global banking and markets unit said hedge funds cut tech positions by the largest proportion in its dataset starting in 2016, covering the five trading days ending Oct. 15. At the same time, overall gross trading activity slowed at the quickest clip in nearly three months.
The accompanying "Goldman Sachs Prime Desk Trading Flow" view normalizes five-day flows using the prior 12 months of data. Put simply, it benchmarks five-day flows for every region and sector - both the long and the short side - against that bucket's usual five-day variability. Example given by Goldman: a 2.0 reading for North American longs means that week's five-day flow equals twice the typical variation for that bucket over the last year.
Goldman's data showed global stocks were net sold by an amount equal to roughly two standard deviations versus the past year's pattern. Information technology led the retreat by a wide margin, with the biggest reduction in combined long and short positions in two months, and chipmakers took the heaviest hit in dollar terms.
The unwind came as tech slumped worldwide. The Nasdaq 100 dropped 5.5% for the week, the worst since April 2025, and within the MSCI World Index, tech ranked as the laggard during the span Goldman examined.
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Positioning is lighter, but concentration remains high. Tech still represents 23.5% of Goldman's global Prime book, a top decile share relative to the last five years, even as funds dialed back risk and net leverage slipped to 48.6%, a one-year low. The bottom line: positioning shifts and ongoing volatility in big tech can continue to sway index moves and your exposure to growth-heavy allocations.
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