The well-known stock market speculator Rafał Zaorski published information on the X platform that he was “stepping away from the market table for some time”. He was supposed to be forced to think about it after unsuccessful decisions that resulted in losses of almost PLN 53 million. He supplemented his stock market account with an examination of conscience about undelivered projects.
Rafał Zaorski lost about PLN 53 million in 2025, according to a post by a popular stock market speculator on the X platform. “This time, it is not a matter of one operation like with oil in 2020, but of many bad market decisions made by me with the grand finale on Chinese tariffs in Trump's tariff war with the whole world,” he explains in his post (original spelling, editor's note).
Zaorski is known for his contrarian approach to the market. In recent months, he has repeatedly reported that he was betting on declines in the Nasdaq, DAX, and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and XRP, and then on the day he announced his position, the market went in the opposite direction. “I play hard, which some may consider gambling. I understand that it can be perceived that way,” Zaorski writes.
1. I sailed big. Very big – almost PLN 53 million. This time it is not a matter of one operation like with oil in 2020 but many bad market decisions made by me with the grand finale on Chinese tariffs in Trump's tariff war with the whole world.
2. I thought about the situation… pic.twitter.com/v6FZ4YH5pa
— Rafal Zaorski (@rafal_zaorski) April 13, 2025
The last few days on the markets have been characterized by huge volatility, with the S&P500 falling 9% in one week and then gaining 5.7% in the next. In individual sessions, daily changes reached several percent. Rough markets are a paradise for speculators, provided they take the right position.
– I thought the situation over and decided to step away from the market “table” for some time in order to analyze my strategy, approach and “mentality” towards investing – informs Zaorski (original spelling, editor's note).
However, this is not the first time that the famous speculator has announced that he is taking a break or booking multi-million losses. In 2022, he is expected to lose around PLN 5 million on futures contracts based on WIG20. In November last year, he announced that he was “going to lick his wounds” after his failed bitcoin forecasts. In March 2023, he wrote on X about physical and mental fatigue, and announced that he would return to the market in September.
In addition to decisions regarding investments, Zaorski takes up another thread in his post about “leaving the table.” “I am aware that I have undertaken many projects, ideas and assumptions, not all of which I have delivered. I am aware of this and want to straighten them out. I will inform interested parties about this in a separate tweet,” the trader announced (original spelling, editor's note).
From that moment until Monday afternoon, he did not publish any further entries on X. He also did not respond to a request for comment. Let us just recall that in recent years Rafał Zaorski has announced or been involved in several high-profile and controversial situations. This includes the BigShortsBets project, a platform and cryptocurrency token launched in 2022. As part of it, millions of zlotys were collected from investors, with which Zaorski was supposed to play on the stock exchange, without their knowledge.
There was also a lot of talk about the “epic Philip”, which involved dividing a luxury apartment in the Złota 44 skyscraper in Warsaw into 20,000 shares to enable multiple people to co-own the property. In July 2024, Zaorski announced its termination without success and assured that all those who had paid money for shares in the apartment had already recovered or would soon recover their funds. Those who expressed a desire to participate in the campaign until its very end were to receive a bonus of interest of around 44% per annum.
It is worth remembering that there are no investors who always win on the market. Losses are a natural thing, especially with the speculative nature of investments. Let us add at the end that Zaorski, in addition to failures, also has spectacular successes, such as PLN 44 million in profit in 2022, when in a live report he closed his short positions on cryptocurrencies, which were rapidly losing after the collapse of the Luna project. In an interview for Forbes, he spoke about the year (season) in which his profits reached PLN 100 million. This time, the “win” is not his, but such is the life of a speculator.
“I'll think about it some more, but maybe I'll share with you this story that will help you understand the market better. I'll be back …” – wrote (original spelling, editor's note) Rafał Zaorski at the end of the post, adding a quote from a poem by Wisława Szymborska from the collection “The End and the Beginning”, where the poet wrote “After all, every beginning is just a continuation, and the book of events is always open halfway through.”
MK
