Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) short sellers have lost a substantial $6.08 billion on a mark-to-market basis since the EV maker’s recent winning streak started. The update was shared by S3 Partners, a financial data, analytics, and services firm.
This was a blow to those betting against the company. Short sellers borrow shares and sell them, hoping that the price will go down. They then buy the shares back at a lower price, return them to the lender, and pocket the difference. With this in mind, Tesla’s rally, which has seen the electric vehicle maker’s stock rise by around 35% since May 24, has proven to be particularly painful for short-sellers.
S3’s head of predictive analytics Ihor Dusaniwsky noted that Tesla is the most shorted stock in the world so far, with a total of $22.43 billion worth of shares sold short. And despite their mounting losses as Tesla’s shares surged, short sellers have continued to add to their bets.
“Short sellers were not convinced that the long buying price support would continue and a price retracement would be inevitable,” Dusaniwsky said.
In 2023, traders have shorted an additional 15.3 million Tesla shares, worth $3.6 billion. And in the past 30 days, bearish bets have expanded even further, with 1.3 million more shares worth $303 million being sold short, as per a Reuters report. This represented a roughly 1.4% increase in short bets against the electric vehicle maker even as Tesla’s stock price rose 39%, Dusaniwsky noted.
Tesla’s rise in recent weeks is partly fueled by the momentum being built around the company’s North American Charging Standard (NACS), which has been confirmed to be adopted by Detroit auto giants Ford and General Motors for their upcoming electric cars. Expectations are also high that the Tesla Model 3’s highly-anticipated Project Highland update will be announced soon.
Tesla shares closed up 4.4% at $245.08 on Friday, after earlier hitting their highest level since early October.
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