IMC-Chicago, LLC Turns Q1 Drawdown Into a High-Conviction Macro Barbell

The biggest adds make their thesis clear: own the infrastructure of AI, the platforms sitting on top of it, and the assets that survive if the whole macro edifice cracks.

On the growth/AI side:

• Tesla (7.89%, up +68.5% shares) remains the single largest bet, with another ~$211.7M added. They’re doubling down on Tesla as leveraged exposure to EV penetration, autonomous software, and AI-adjacent optionality rather than treating it as just a car maker.
• Taiwan Semi (3.18%, up +114.7% shares, +$112.0M) and new ASML (1.04%, +$68.5M) are the clearest pivot: sell some commodity-ish chip exposure, buy the choke points in advanced manufacturing and lithography.
• Meta and Alphabet see outsized ramps — Meta up +472.8% shares (+$106.8M), Alphabet up +346.5% (+$75.3M) — signaling preference for cash-rich, AI-native ad platforms over more speculative software stories.
• Oracle appears as a new $106.2M position, a bet that legacy enterprise software with cloud and database moats remains key AI infrastructure.

On the macro-hedge / monetary side:

• PSLV explodes to a 4.75% weight (shares up +5217.0%, +$307.6M), with CEF new at 2.51% (+$165.3M) and PHYS up +494.3% (+$72.2M). That’s a decisive move toward physical silver and gold exposure.
• IBIT (Bitcoin) is boosted +153.6% shares (+$100.8M), while ETHA is up +307.3% and ETH is a new ~$45.0M stake, even though both Ethereum vehicles sit below cost. They are adding into weakness rather than trading price strength.
• SPY debuts at 4.3% (+$283.8M) and DIA is increased, essentially re-underwriting U.S. large-cap beta even as they hedge it elsewhere.

Away from macro, they quietly seed or scale classic compounding franchises and recovery plays: new Amazon at ~$55.3M, new Costco at ~$43.4M, and large percentage adds to NVO (+648.2% shares), NKE (+697.4%), and BSX (+632.1%). That’s the stock-picker’s side of the barbell: own dominant brands and structural health winners at more reasonable entry points.

The sells are not a risk-off liquidation; they’re a re-pricing of which tech actually deserves premium exposure.

The biggest cash sources are legacy or earlier-phase AI winners and crowded semis:

• Broadcom is cut -38.2% shares (about -$62.8M), Intel -60.7% (-$50.5M), Micron -7.8% (-$21.0M), and Palantir -53.7% (-$47.3M). All four sit on huge gains versus cost — particularly Micron and Intel — so they’re being harvested to finance the move into TSM, ASML and the mega-cap platforms.
• IBM is nudged down (-1.6% shares) despite being under water on cost, suggesting it’s a modest de-emphasis rather than a hard exit, likely due to lower AI torque than newer software holdings.

Outside of Technology:

• Marriott is trimmed -20.3% (-$6.2M) despite a healthy gain vs cost, which looks more like recycling from mature travel reopening plays into fresher consumer cyclicals such as UAL (shares up +447.5%) and high-quality retail like Costco and Floor & Decor.

Notice what’s missing: there is no broad-based de-risking from equities. Instead, IMC-Chicago is taking profits in winners with less structural edge and redeploying into oligopolistic AI infrastructure, hard assets, and targeted cyclicals. Trims are funding sources, not expressions of fear.

The sector shifts are stark. Technology falls from 54.79% to 33.1%, while “unclassified” vehicles — which in practice are hard-asset, crypto, index, and volatility products — surge from 11.96% to 35.8%.

That re-rating tells you more than any single trade. IMC-Chicago is keeping core AI and cloud exposure, but surrounding it with explicit protections and real-asset upside.

Key rotations:

• Within Tech, they upgrade quality: trimming AVGO, INTC, MU, PLTR, and IBM, while ramping TSM, AMD, AXTI, and adding ASML, ORCL, and communication-equipment names like Lumentum and Ondas. Semis remain central, but the emphasis swings toward capacity and specialty materials rather than generic compute.
• Industrials edge down from 19.86% to 15.74%, but that masks a move: heavier Tesla and Rockwell Automation (shares up +985.6%) and new Kennametal, signaling a preference for automation and industrial tooling over broader cyclical beta.
• Consumer Discretionary rises from 2.91% to 5.61% as they add Amazon, Costco, Nike, Floor & Decor, and United Airlines. They’re expressing a selective consumer recovery view, focusing on scale platforms, premium brands, and travel.
• Health Care ticks up from 1.68% to 2.17% via BSX, NVO, and CI — a tilt toward med-tech and obesity/GLP-1 themes as long-duration growth.
• Basic Materials dips from 2.72% to 1.38% in miners (AG, FCX), but the real commodity exposure has migrated into Sprott vehicles and GDX inside the unclassified bucket.

Finance stays modest at 2.8%, but the mix is telling: they add Wells Fargo and increase SoFi and Bitmine, mixing traditional banking with fintech and crypto-adjacent infrastructure.

Taken together, this book assumes we remain in an AI-and-inflation regime — but IMC-Chicago is unwilling to be hostage to either rosy growth forecasts or central-bank credibility.

On the upside, they stay long the beneficiaries of capex and automation: Tesla, TSM, ASML, AMD, Meta, Alphabet, Oracle, Rockwell, and niche semis and optics suppliers. Those positions argue they still see a multi-year AI build-out with network effects accruing to a handful of platforms and their upstream oligopolies.

On the downside, the explosion in PSLV, CEF, PHYS, GDX, IBIT, ETHA, ETH and the introduction of VXX, SQQQ, SPXS, and HYG says they respect tail risks: inflation staying sticky, policy error, and equity froth that needs explicit hedging. Owning SPY and DIA alongside levered index shorts is not confusion; it’s probability-weighting: keep participating in nominal growth, but cheaply insure the extremes.

The quiet but aggressive builds in Amazon, Costco, Nike, NVO, BSX, and CI add a final layer: traditional compounders and secular health names bought at less euphoric valuations as AI hogs the spotlight. If this quarter is any guide, IMC-Chicago will keep monetizing high-beta tech rallies to add to hard assets, volatility products, and under-loved quality — a playbook built for a world where narrative turns fast but regime risk doesn’t go away.