[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]  Neil Sethi [@neilksethi](/creator/twitter/neilksethi) on x 12.4K followers Created: 2025-07-21 14:30:00 UTC MarketWatch: The vigorous embrace of high-beta names has many analysts worried. One is Dubravko Lakos-Bujas, strategist at JPMorgan. In a note published Monday, he and his team observe that there have been three episodes already this year where investing style factors have seen “extreme crowding episodes.” In January, investors piled into quality growth, large-size companies reflecting a desire to own the AI-linked mega caps. Then, as concerns about AI overspend infected sentiment and tariff policy raised recession fears, April saw a rush into stocks deemed low volatility, safer. The latest bout of extreme crowding — currently in the 100th percentile — is in high-beta stocks. And this spans both riskier low value alongside speculative growth plays, according to JPMorgan. “In our view, this is driven by a combination of markets increasingly pricing in a goldilocks outcome (e.g. growth resilience and easing Fed expectations), tariff exhaustion (e.g. the so-called ‘TACO trade’) and institutional investors chasing more levered and speculative equity segments of the market,” write Lakos-Bujas and team. The overcrowding is particularly unsustainable because it has occurred at such speed. The move in positioning from the 25th percentile to the 100th percentile took place in just three months, which is the fastest in XX years, says the JPMorgan team. In addition, short interest in high-beta names has crumbled, they observe, meaning investors are inadequately hedged for any selloff. “While some argue high-beta crowding could persist, we believe the current 100%ile crowding based on our quantitative analysis not only presents a risk for this crowded segment, but is also a red flag for the broader market implying there is rising complacency in the short term,” the JPMorgan team writes. The bank screened for stocks it considers high beta, the first XX of which are shown in the table below.  XXXXX engagements  **Related Topics** [investment](/topic/investment) [jpmorgan chase](/topic/jpmorgan-chase) [stocks financial services](/topic/stocks-financial-services) [stocks banks](/topic/stocks-banks) [Post Link](https://x.com/neilksethi/status/1947303049082659274)
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Neil Sethi @neilksethi on x 12.4K followers
Created: 2025-07-21 14:30:00 UTC
MarketWatch: The vigorous embrace of high-beta names has many analysts worried. One is Dubravko Lakos-Bujas, strategist at JPMorgan. In a note published Monday, he and his team observe that there have been three episodes already this year where investing style factors have seen “extreme crowding episodes.”
In January, investors piled into quality growth, large-size companies reflecting a desire to own the AI-linked mega caps. Then, as concerns about AI overspend infected sentiment and tariff policy raised recession fears, April saw a rush into stocks deemed low volatility, safer. The latest bout of extreme crowding — currently in the 100th percentile — is in high-beta stocks. And this spans both riskier low value alongside speculative growth plays, according to JPMorgan.
“In our view, this is driven by a combination of markets increasingly pricing in a goldilocks outcome (e.g. growth resilience and easing Fed expectations), tariff exhaustion (e.g. the so-called ‘TACO trade’) and institutional investors chasing more levered and speculative equity segments of the market,” write Lakos-Bujas and team.
The overcrowding is particularly unsustainable because it has occurred at such speed. The move in positioning from the 25th percentile to the 100th percentile took place in just three months, which is the fastest in XX years, says the JPMorgan team. In addition, short interest in high-beta names has crumbled, they observe, meaning investors are inadequately hedged for any selloff.
“While some argue high-beta crowding could persist, we believe the current 100%ile crowding based on our quantitative analysis not only presents a risk for this crowded segment, but is also a red flag for the broader market implying there is rising complacency in the short term,” the JPMorgan team writes.
The bank screened for stocks it considers high beta, the first XX of which are shown in the table below.
XXXXX engagements
Related Topics investment jpmorgan chase stocks financial services stocks banks