[only a moron would believe Melvin C when they claim
they have covered.]
It’s a strong possibility. It may have been 1% of their portfolio that suddenly became 20%, as the stock rocketed from $20 to $400. Note that the fund was probably fully invested. So they had to sell large amounts of other assets to raise cash to meet margin calls. It’s also likely that the fund was leveraged. An individual investor can borrow $1 for every $1 of cash he brings to the table. A hedge fund can, in theory, borrow $10 for every $1 of investor capital, depending on what it’s buying. If it borrowed even $1 for every $1 of equity, that accounts almost completely for the 50% plunge, with the rest the result of the portfolio’s decline from liquidating big cap stocks at a discount to recent prices to meet margin calls.