Though corporate insider trades seldom signal imminent bullish or bearish catalysts due to the existing regulations designed to prevent investing based on non-public information, the latest Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR) stock sale might prove exceptionally well-timed.
Specifically, an August 10 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer (CTO) and executive vice president (EVP) at the software giant, dumped 35,000 PLTR shares four days earlier, on Thursday.
In total, the EVP raised $5.4 million in the inside trade at an average stock price of $155.70. Notably, Sankar is one of the more prolific Palantir equity sellers and is – along with Peter Thiel and Alex Karp – responsible for some of the biggest share dumps of 2026.
Simultaneously, the EVP’s latest PLTR trade came shortly after the firm unveiled its latest earnings, thus triggering a significant price rally from $123 at the end of July to $155.70 at the time of the trade, and to $174.94 at the latest close on August 11.
Why the latest Palantir stock insider sale might be particularly well-timed
Though such performance might make it appear that Sankar dumped PLTR shares prematurely, some notable market actors might argue he took advantage of a temporary upsurge.
Indeed, while investors generally reacted with enthusiasm to the earnings, the legendary ‘Big Short’ trader Michael Burry saw multiple warning signs within the document indicating to him that Palantir was due for a 99% plunge.
As Finbold reported on Tuesday, August 11, the famous short seller saw the software giant’s rising infrastructure commitments and the ‘accounting gap’ he claims to have identified as sufficient structural risks that the fair price of PLTR shares is now lower than $1.
Should Burry’s forecast prove correct, the company will have suffered a $417.87 billion market capitalization drop from $420.39 billion at the latest close to $2.5 billion.
2026 Palantir stock price performance
Elsewhere, there is little indication in Palantir stock’s 2026 performance that the firm is truly at risk of a 99% plummet. So far, PLTR is 4.22% in the green year-to-date (YTD), with the last 30 days being especially positive thanks to the earnings-driven rally.
Still, the Wednesday pre-market performance hints that the most recent upside is not sustainable, as Palantir shares dropped 1.72% to their press time price of $171.93.
Additionally, if Burry’s wider thesis about the instability of the artificial intelligence (AI) ‘boom’ is correct, Palantir might indeed be facing a severe downside in the mid and long-term.
Supporting evidence that the danger is real comes in the form of vast big tech capital expenditure (CapEx), elusive revenue and profit data, general unreliability of generative AI, a lack of clarity regarding the cost of running the technology, and the concentration of demand in OpenAI and Anthropic.
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