Like it or not, Jim Chanos’ MSTR short trade was a winner
Although they’d hate to admit it, even Michael Saylor’s biggest fans would agree that Jim Chanos’ bearish Strategy (MSTR) trade this year has been exceptionally profitable. Chanos sold shares short and fully hedged that short-sale with a long bitcoin (BTC) position. In other words, rather than betting against MSTR’s overvaluation on an absolute basis, he merely prepared for its premium relative to its BTC holdings to collapse. It has. On May 14 at the 2025 New York Sohn Investment Conference, Chanos explained that he’d been building his short position in Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) since its 2.5x mNAV in November 2024. On numerous podcasts and interviews over the past few months, he’s reiterated that his overall cost basis is above 2x mNAV . That’s a terrific cost basis for someone betting a low-single digit percentage of his fund on the price of MSTR declining. As of today, MSTR’s basic mNAV has declined to 1.42x, and its new...