U.S. markets were down significantly in September with the larger cap S&P 500 down -4.87%, the tech leaning Nasdaq down -5.81% and the broad Russell 3000 down -4.87%. This widespread weakness in stocks is reflected by short-side profitability in every sector besides Energy and Misc. (SPACs) in the month of September. Overall short sellers were up $50.33 billion in month-to-date mark-to-market profits, up 5.45% for the month with seven sectors topping 6% returns led by the Real Estate, Information Technology and Health Care sectors.

Only three out of ten shorted stocks produced negative returns in September, and short sellers leaned into their more profitable trades and put less capital in their unprofitable positions with 81% of every dollar shorted producing positive returns.

Sector

Average September Short Interest

September MTM P\L

P\L %

Communication Services

$64,069,041,831

$2,517,043,125

3.93%

Consumer Discretionary

$149,894,002,924

$9,005,557,830

6.01%

Consumer Staples

$41,019,362,391

$2,479,398,074

6.04%

Energy

$75,506,966,436

($973,538,903)

-1.29%

Financials

$113,725,530,753

$4,577,512,868

4.03%

Health Care

$117,208,334,227

$7,737,773,723

6.60%

Industrials

$98,949,155,237

$6,467,277,565

6.54%

Information Technology

$174,333,093,266

$12,130,613,279

6.96%

Materials

$34,815,225,442

$2,070,514,248

5.95%

Misc. (SPACs)

$72,645,705

($1,006,759)

-1.39%

Real Estate

$35,180,382,016

$3,040,663,030

8.64%

Utilities

$19,413,833,243

$1,277,156,689

6.58%

Grand Total

$924,187,573,470

$50,328,964,772

5.45%

The most profitable short trades on a dollar basis were by led by tech stocks:

U.S. Sept. Most Profitable Shorts

Ticker

Avg Short Interest

Sept. MTM P\L

P\L %

APPLE INC

AAPL

$19,052,975,585

$1,778,590,550

9.33%

NVIDIA CORP

NVDA

$11,776,885,725

$1,485,547,591

12.61%

AMAZON.COM INC

AMZN

$10,496,771,301

$872,783,113

8.31%

TESLA INC

TSLA

$21,761,693,064

$722,589,297

3.32%

BROADCOM INC

AVGO

$5,195,687,625

$560,822,386

10.79%

VISA INC

$7,608,086,709

$494,109,649

6.49%

NETFLIX INC

NFLX

$3,624,198,767

$491,398,296

13.56%

MICROSOFT CORP

MSFT

$13,067,668,995

$482,258,091

3.69%

SHOPIFY INC

SHOP

$1,580,309,611

$311,426,705

19.71%

$885,978,208

$289,686,836

32.70%

APPLIED MATERIALS INC

AMAT

$2,805,487,126

$280,752,549

10.01%

CELCIUS HOLDINGS

CELH

$2,072,155,347

$276,861,194

13.36%

CARVANA CO

CVNA

$1,580,615,657

$275,261,139

17.41%

HOME DEPOT INC

$3,103,517,212

$274,225,911

8.84%

ALIBABA GROUP ADR

BABA

$3,829,960,474

$262,294,692

6.85%

ALPHABET INC A

GOOGL

$6,349,517,685

$244,207,542

3.85%

BLOCK INC

$927,874,002

$242,664,507

26.15%

BOEING COMPANY

$1,544,058,596

$239,549,773

15.51%

MEDICAL PROPERTIES TRUST INC

MPW

$828,954,108

$235,236,020

28.38%

CARNIVAL CORP

CCL

$1,648,946,531

$232,764,890

14.12%

While the least profitable trades had a large sprinkling of energy stocks:

U.S. Sept. Least Profitable Shorts

Ticker

Avg Short Interest

Sept. MTM P\L

P\L %

EXXON MOBIL CORP

XOM

$4,905,886,323

($253,410,038)

-5.17%

UNITEDHEALTH GRP

UNH

$2,907,246,964

($167,727,618)

-5.77%

PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC

PLTR

$2,339,321,468

($158,536,988)

-6.78%

WILLIAMS-SONOMA INC

WSM

$1,376,506,270

($135,850,055)

-9.87%

RIVIAN AUTOMOTIVE INC

RIVN

$2,008,831,550

($135,236,005)

-6.73%

META PLATFORMS INC

META

$9,255,520,739

($133,945,177)

-1.45%

SPLUNK INC

SPLK

$663,740,645

($125,335,716)

-18.88%

CHEVRON CORP

CVX

$2,757,742,275

($117,831,884)

-4.27%

VALERO ENERGY CORP

VLO

$1,414,495,379

($115,624,496)

-8.17%

SEA LTD ADR

$689,765,852

($112,698,000)

-16.34%

MARATHON PETRO

MPC

$1,988,131,378

($112,361,525)

-5.65%

OCCIDENTAL PETRO

OXY

$3,210,042,231

($108,153,394)

-3.37%

TMOBILE US INC

TMUS

$3,813,798,620

($100,593,986)

-2.64%

INTERCEPT PHARMA

ICPT

$144,085,240

($93,042,484)

-64.57%

MOBILEYE GLOBAL INC

MBLY

$565,602,903

($90,753,694)

-16.05%

PBF ENERGY INC

PBF

$638,321,915

($82,977,391)

-13.00%

NIKOLA CORP

NKLA

$213,918,173

($82,366,173)

-38.50%

IMMUNOVANT INC

IMVT

$126,332,370

($79,968,863)

-63.30%

AIRBNB INC

ABNB

$3,252,685,952

($79,873,672)

-2.46%

DELL TECHNOLOGIES INC

DELL

$590,527,817

($78,644,843)

-13.32%

Mark-to-market P\L is dominated by the larger cap stocks with very large short interest. We can also look at short-side profitability on a percentage return basis which will include more smaller cap names. The most profitable shorted stocks with over $100 million of short interest are:

U.S. Sept. Most Profitable Shorts

Ticker

Avg Short Interest

Sept. MTM P\L

P\L %

ACELYRIN INC.

SLRN

$106,248,814

$95,420,454

89.81%

MORPHIC HOLDING INC

MORF

$141,625,282

$101,373,302

71.58%

PTC THERAPEUTICS INC

PTCT

$235,553,053

$126,042,081

53.51%

OVERSTOCK.COM INC

OSTK

$104,064,372

$53,500,112

51.41%

AMC ENTERTAINMENT HLDGS INC

AMC

$210,440,165

$106,927,978

50.81%

PURECYCLE TECHNOLOGIES INC

PCT

$204,772,745

$93,236,710

45.53%

TRAVERE THERAPEUTICS INC

TVTX

$109,308,776

$48,668,487

44.52%

NEXTERA ENERGY PARTNERS LP

NEP

$134,675,544

$55,728,146

41.38%

MARATHON DIGITAL HLDGS INC

MARA

$517,322,125

$207,812,397

40.17%

VIASAT INC

VSAT

$208,845,176

$83,745,749

40.10%

REVANCE THERAPEUTICS INC

RVNC

$217,299,383

$86,675,591

39.89%

EOS ENERGY ENTERPRISES INC

EOSE

$101,404,139

$39,680,432

39.13%

OPENDOOR TECHNOLOGIES INC

OPEN

$218,828,159

$84,220,930

38.49%

CAVA GROUP INC

CAVA

$333,558,621

$121,471,953

36.42%

ROCKET LAB USA INC

RKLB

$107,166,230

$38,863,452

36.26%

CHARGEPOINT HOLDINGS INC

CHPT

$416,580,384

$150,780,387

36.19%

VIRGIN GALACTIC HOLDINGS

SPCE

$134,342,459

$46,518,302

34.63%

LIGHTWAVE LOGIC INC

LWLG

$116,084,146

$39,335,544

33.89%

$885,978,208

$289,686,836

32.70%

MASTEC INC

MTZ

$249,464,435

$79,816,645

32.00%

The least profitable shorted stocks with over $100 million of short interest are:

U.S. Sept. Least Profitable Shorts

Ticker

Avg Short Interest

Sept. MTM P\L

P\L %

INTERCEPT PHARMA

ICPT

$144,085,240

($93,042,484)

-64.57%

IMMUNOVANT INC

IMVT

$126,332,370

($79,968,863)

-63.30%

CRINETICS PHARMACEUTICALS

CRNX

$105,517,064

($55,790,619)

-52.87%

NIKOLA CORP

NKLA

$213,918,173

($82,366,173)

-38.50%

ELASTIC NV

ESTC

$142,188,108

($38,855,031)

-27.33%

TAL EDUCATION GROUP ADR

TAL

$183,540,698

($48,621,896)

-26.49%

ARCH RESOURCES INC

ARCH

$226,805,330

($59,238,623)

-26.12%

WARRIOR MET COAL INC

HCC

$148,835,110

($37,122,234)

-24.94%

ALPHA METALLURGICAL RESOURCES

AMR

$228,506,685

($53,352,297)

-23.35%

ROCKET PHARMACEUTICALS INC

RCKT

$163,309,266

($35,339,229)

-21.64%

ALTERYX INC

AYX

$164,340,324

($35,548,004)

-21.63%

CONSOL ENERGY INC

CEIX

$247,103,065

($48,759,019)

-19.73%

PEABODY ENERGY CORP

BTU

$384,204,938

($73,623,476)

-19.16%

SPLUNK INC

SPLK

$663,740,645

($125,335,716)

-18.88%

DESIGNER BRANDS INC

DBI

$103,588,440

($18,437,416)

-17.80%

SEA LTD ADR

$689,765,852

($112,698,000)

-16.34%

MIRUM PHARMACEUTICALS INC

MIRM

$161,882,878

($26,432,293)

-16.33%

MIRATI THERAPEUTICS INC

MRTX

$345,706,997

($56,318,840)

-16.29%

MOBILEYE GLOBAL INC

MBLY

$565,602,903

($90,753,694)

-16.05%

URANIUM ENERGY CORP

UEC

$167,140,513

($24,965,070)

-14.94%

Overall equity short interest in the U.S. market decreased by $23.6 billion to $906.1 billion. This decrease was made up of a $51.2 billion mark-to-market decline in the value of the share shorted partially offset by $27.6 billion of new short selling. The increased short selling in September coupled with long side selling drove down stock prices during the month, but if markets rebound in the fourth quarter, we may see a spurt of short covering in some of the most profitable names as short sellers look to realize mark-to-market profits.

Stocks with increased short selling and large mark-to-market profits over the last thirty days and could see short covering in a year-end market rebound as short sellers try and realize their profits are: AAPL, TSLA, MSFT, AMZN, AVGO, TSCO and NVDA. Stocks with increased short covering and mark-to-market losses over the last thirty days and could see continued increased short covering in a year-end market rebound as short sellers continued to get squeezed are: SPLK, OXY, AMGN, ZS, CVS, VEEV, TNET, X and HZNP.

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Most Profitable September U.S. Shorts

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