Ihor Dusaniwsky News

Short sellers are still betting billions of dollars that the rally in cryptocurrency-linked stocks fueled by a surge in Bitcoin will eventually end. Total short interest, or the amount that contrarian traders have pledged against crypto stocks, has increased to nearly $11 billion this year, according to a report from S3 Partners LLC on Monday. More than 80% of total short interest in the sector are bets against MicroStrategy Inc. and Coinbase Global Inc.

Quiver Quantitative — Beyond Meat stock (NASDAQ:BYND) experienced a dramatic surge, jumping as much as 61% in intraday trading, marking its best one-day move since 2019. This leap has placed significant pressure on short sellers, who are now grappling with nearly $74 million in paper losses. The rally in Beyond Meat's shares is not just a reflection of its quarterly earnings report but also sets the stage for a potential short squeeze. Such a scenario occurs when short sellers, those betting against the stock, are compelled to buy back shares to cover their losing positions, further driving up the stock price.

Arm Holdings may have to wait at least a day before the stock becomes available for shorting, analysts said. Shares in SoftBank's Arm Holdings opened 18% above their offer price in their Nasdaq debut on Thursday, valuing the British chip designer at nearly $60 billion in its return to the public markets after seven years. Short sellers who aim to sell borrowed shares to buy them back at a profit, however, may have to bide their time since the newly-minted shares might not be available to borrow for shorting just yet. Investors can begin selling the shares short as soon as their broker has reasonable grounds to believe that the security can be borrowed — in market parlance, be able to «locate» the shares, said Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics at S3 Partners. Prime brokers or brokers usually will at least wait until a day after the IPO to give a 'locate' on the shares, to get an idea on how much stock lands in lendable or marginable accounts, Dusaniwsky said. Investors looking to trade in ARM options, another avenue to place bets on the future price of the shares, may have to wait till next week as certain regulatory requirements on trading thresholds have to be met before options exchanges can list contracts on the newly-listed shares. «I have every reason to believe that when ARM options are listed they will be very popular,» said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers. Arm shares were last up 15.80% at $59.06.

Silvergate Capital Corp.Shares have plunged roughly 98% from a November 2021 peak, earning bearish bettors about $780 million in mark-to-market profits in the process, including more than $190 million last week alone as questions about Silvergate’s viability surfaced, data from S3 Partners show.Wagers against the stock surged in recent months as crypto contagion spread across the market and setbacks for the bank accumulated. About 85% of Silvergate’s float is sold short, one of the highest rates among US stocks, S3 data show. Traders looking to increase short exposure are now hampered by a severe lack of stock available to borrow and rising financing costs, said Ihor Dusaniwsky, the head of predictive analytics at S3.

Hedge funds are getting increasingly skeptical about this big rally that broke out in the middle of a bear market.

Crypto stock short sellers up about 126% this year - S3 Partners

Short sellers are reaping huge profits this year, as the stock market's brutal bloodbath fuel their bearish bets.