The founder of hedge fund Kynikos Associates and well-known short seller Jim Chanos said Thursday that he is still betting against Tesla, even after the electric automaker's stock fell dramatically in the past month.
"We are still basically maximum short Tesla. It's still one of my favorite positions," Chanos told CNBC's "Halftime Report." "Nothing's changed in my viewpoint here. ... It will lose money this year."
Tesla shares slipped 2% in trading from their previous close of $481.56.
Chanos said his firm warned clients that Tesla's recent rally from about November to February wouldn't last. The stock more than doubled during that time, surging above $950 a share and peaking in early February. Since hitting that level Tesla's stock has fallen more than 51%.
"[That] was one of the craziest periods I've ever seen in my 40 years on Wall Street," Chanos said.
'Manic' speculative trading at the end of the bull market
Chanos highlighted the "parabolic" moves in stocks like Tesla and Virgin Galactic as indicative of the end of the bull market cycle.
"That was the one thing that had been missing in the bull market in the 10 years, was just manic speculation by individuals," Chanos said.
Both stocks had become favorites among retail investors by February, with trading platforms like Fidelity, TD Ameritrade Robinhood and SoFi all seeing heavy trading volume as the stocks jumped day after day. At one point Virgin Galactic's stock had more than tripled in just three months.
"Retail for some reason came pouring into the market and individual names and individual stories in a way that we haven't seen since ... the end of the dot-com boom" in early 2000 Chanos said.