When Michael Burry – the man who predicted the 2008 housing market collapse – reveals a bet of a staggering $1.6 billion against the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100, you’d think all of Wall Street would sit up and take note. Yet, Marc Chaikin, the brains behind Chaikin Analytics, isn’t buying it. He confidently asserts that this is another ill-fated gamble.

Drawing a parallel to Mike Wilson, Morgan Stanley’s chief US equity strategist, who was left red-faced following a failure to anticipate this year’s stock rally, Chaikin believes Burry is on a similar trajectory. As for Burry’s influence on the trading decisions of the retail crowd? “Nobody on Reddit follows Michael Burry,” claims Chaikin. The world of meme stocks, according to him, marches to the beat of its own drum.

However, a brief rewind reveals that Burry’s stake in GameStop in 2019 did stir the waters of the meme-stock movement. Today, there exists a dedicated subreddit – ‘Burryology’, boasting 17,000 members, all of whom meticulously dissect Burry’s trades and tactics.

Chaikin brushes this aside, categorizing Burry with the league of market pessimists. The recognition Burry gained for his audacious prediction of the 2008 financial crisis, turning it into mainstream fame via the movie “The Big Short”, has, in Chaikin’s words, made him a “one-trick pony.”

That said, even ponies can occasionally pull off a show-stopping performance. For instance, Burry’s warnings about impending inflation troubles in April 2020 were quite prescient. His predictions about the trajectory of meme stocks and the volatile cryptocurrency market also hit the mark.

So, what’s the fuss about his current bet? It’s centered around bearish put options on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and Invesco QQQ Trust. The combined notional value of these options is a cool $1.6 billion. Though these might be strategic hedges, the size is still eyebrow-raising. Especially when you consider that Burry’s Scion Asset Management had a portfolio worth merely $111 million, as per insights from UBS’s Gerry Fowler.

Chaikin remains unwavering in his confidence in the S&P 500’s bull market, predicting it won’t nosedive even 10% from its late-July peak.

So, the stage is set: On one side, we have Michael Burry with his history of against-the-grain bets. On the other, a seasoned analyst and the broader Wall Street consensus. As with every epic showdown, only time will reveal the victor. But for now, every entrepreneur and investor will be watching closely, perhaps even placing a few side bets of their own.