Jupiter Research quant fund ran 2–4x leverage on AI small-caps — 40%+ July drawdown

The Jupiter Tactical Trading Fund, managed from Hong Kong by Jupiter Research Capital — a firm with close links to Shanghai-based Minghong Investment, one of China's largest systematic managers — lost more than 40% of its value in July 2026. Investor communications cited by Bloomberg showed losses deepening from less than 7.5% in the opening days of the month to around 43% by July 24.

The fund had managed approximately $186 million earlier in the year. A market-neutral strategy that aims to profit regardless of market direction had gained around 60% after fees in the first five months of 2026, and the fund is understood to have employed leverage of between two and four times — amplifying both the early gains and the July losses.

The drawdown coincided with a global sell-off in AI-related stocks and a particularly sharp fall in the Chinese small-cap benchmarks that many systematic managers had crowded into. The CSI 1000 and CSI 2000 indices both declined by more than 20% during July, and Goldman Sachs described the reversal in China's equity market as a 'quant quake' as momentum models unwound under margin selling.

Minghong's own domestic market-neutral strategy fared better, gaining around 4% through July 24, which underlined that the damage was concentrated in the offshore, leveraged Jupiter vehicle rather than the parent's main book.