Ray Dalio has liquidated positions to take risk off the table when certain events occurred and he was uncertain.

True: credible accounts (Dalio's own writings such as 'Principles', Bridgewater letters, interviews, or press reports of Bridgewater cutting risk) document at least one occasion before February 2018 when he or Bridgewater liquidated positions to reduce risk because of events that made him uncertain. Mostly true: such de-risking is documented, but the details differ slightly (for example, it was done systematically by the firm rather than by him personally). Mostly false: the documented cases are of a different nature (for example only rebalancing with no risk-off liquidation tied to uncertainty). False: evidence shows he never did this, or his stated practice contradicts it.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin Interviews Raymond Dalio ... CNBC · 12 September 2017

   “Well, we always think about hedging risk. And there's a beta component to this. And what we think about is how to take it off the table, and you think of using of options, you think of hedges in terms of structures, in terms of gold.”

2. E2 The Mistake That Nearly Ended Bridgewater | Ray Dalio's War Story — Ray Dalio CEOInterviews.AI · 7 October 2026

   “In 1982, a young Ray Dalio made a bold call: the world was headed for an economic collapse. Instead, the market hit bottom and launched the greatest bull run in history.”

E1 is a CNBC interview in which Dalio talks in general terms about hedging and taking risk "off the table" with options, hedge structures or gold. It does not record any specific occasion when he or Bridgewater sold positions because events left him uncertain. The interview only carries his own words, so it counts as his own statement rather than independent confirmation. E2 is about a wrong 1982 bet on economic collapse and says nothing about selling positions to reduce risk, so the evidence does not settle the claim.