One Whale, One Liquidation, One Very Bad Friday for Tech 🐳

Tom Lee of Fundstrat said Friday’s tech-stock selloff may have been triggered by a single large investor forced to liquidate positions as the Nasdaq Composite closed its worst month since March 2025, down 5.3%.

Speaking on CNBC as the Nasdaq slid, Lee described an “internal battle” in the market and said, “Today looks like someone’s getting liquidated. I don’t know if it’s an institution.” He argued that the decline reflected forced selling rather than investors abandoning stocks. The equal-weighted S&P 500 was rising during his interview but slipped 0.79% by the close, while the regular S&P 500, weighted most heavily toward the largest companies, fell 1.82%.

Intel lost 28.6% on Friday after issuing a weak fourth-quarter forecast, posting its worst day since 1974. Amazon also reported $42.4 billion in negative free cash flow, driven by heavy AI spending. A week earlier, Lee said yields below 5% meant the AI selloff was ending; the 10-year Treasury yield closed Friday at 4.93%. The Nasdaq suffered its worst day since June 5.

Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, said his retail clients had not fled, although they piled into Alphabet on Thursday. Lee said large investors were waiting until Tuesday’s midterm elections before buying, warning that a small selling push could push prices sharply lower. “I think people are marking their calendar until November 3rd,” he added.

CNBC’s anchor said markets expect Democrats to edge ahead in both chambers of Congress, which Sosnick called the prevailing theory. CME FedWatch puts the odds of a December rate hike at 72%, while Lee said buyers will return after Tuesday’s vote.