Crypto Stock Short Recap
Author:
Ihor Dusaniwsky
Managing Director of Predictive Analytics, S3 Partners
Matthew Unterman
Director of Predictive Analytics, S3 Partners
The price of Bitcoin has increased by +139% this year and +58% since its recent low on 9/11/23. Crypto stocks have been rallying along with the crypto-currencies and short sellers have incurred large mark-to-market losses on the strength of the sector. We are tracking eleven U.S. crypto stocks with active shares shorted in our Blacklight SaaS platform and Black App in the crypto stock sector with $6.88 billion of short interest. Average Short Interest % of Float for these stocks is 18.12% with an average stock borrow fee of 9.19%. As a comparison, U.S. equities have an average SI % Float of 5.00% and average stock borrow fee of 0.60%.
Crypto Stock Short Interest
Ticker
SI % Float
Stock Borrow Fee
Short Interest
Coinbase Global Inc
COIN
14.97%
0.30
$3,538,414,170
MicroStrategy Inc
MSTR
22.81%
0.57
$1,748,373,995
Marathon Digital Holdings Inc
MARA
23.55%
0.82
$757,302,319
Riot Platforms Inc
RIOT
18.34%
0.45
$539,481,825
Cleanspark Inc
CLSK
10.13%
0.30
$157,831,594
Hut 8 Corp
HUT
10.66%
10.57
$10,675,118
Terawulf Inc
WULF
20.14%
3.57
$44,094,974
Bit Digital Inc
BTBT
15.75%
4.57
$42,242,526
Cipher Mining Inc
CIFR
22.35%
21.32
$35,702,019
Bitdeer Technologies Group
BTDR
4.25%
39.82
$4,804,788
Bitcoin Depot Inc
BTM
5.49%
18.82
$492,348
Total Crypto Stocks
18.12%
9.19
$6,879,415,676
We saw $2.19 billion of short covering throughout 2023 as short sellers reduced their crypto stock exposure in the first three-quarters of the year as the sector rallied and the mark-to-market value of the shorted securities increased. But since Bitcoin’s recent low on 9/11/23 we have seen $697 million of new short selling as short sellers increased their exposure in what they thought was an overbought sector. The majority of nine months of short covering and recent short selling occurred in Coinbase Global Inc (COIN) and MicroStrategy Inc (MSTR).
Crypto Stock Shares Shorted
Ticker
Short Interest
YTD Shs Shorted
9/11 Shs Shorted
Coinbase Global Inc
COIN
$3,538,414,170
($2,363,203,886)
$352,132,281
MicroStrategy Inc
MSTR
$1,748,373,995
($170,884,891)
$209,086,977
Marathon Digital Holdings Inc
MARA
$757,302,319
$105,251,835
($15,614,829)
Riot Platforms Inc
RIOT
$539,481,825
$87,158,745
$83,039,295
Cleanspark Inc
CLSK
$157,831,594
$72,562,180
$71,199,314
Hut 8 Corp
HUT
$10,675,118
($15,351,749)
($25,863,976)
Terawulf Inc
WULF
$44,094,974
$40,504,030
$13,600,562
Bit Digital Inc
BTBT
$42,242,526
$27,274,702
$7,171,976
Cipher Mining Inc
CIFR
$35,702,019
$21,746,875
($1,761,185)
Bitdeer Technologies Group
BTDR
$4,804,788
$4,792,036
$4,340,815
Bitcoin Depot Inc
BTM
$492,348
$415,439
$158,225
Total Crypto Stocks
$6,879,415,676
($2,189,734,684)
$697,489,455
Crypto stock short sellers are down -$6.05 billion in year-to-date mark-to-market losses, down -61.80%, with over half those losses in Coinbase Global Inc (COIN). Since Bitcoin’s recent low on 9/11/23 crypto stock short sellers are down -$2.66 billion in mark-to-market losses, down -148.23%.
Crypto Stocks MTM P\L
Ticker
YTD MTM P\L
P\L %
9/11 MTM P\L
P\L %
Coinbase Global Inc
COIN
($3,542,377,758)
-160.51%
($1,488,383,718)
-72.50%
MicroStrategy Inc
MSTR
($1,393,988,313)
-145.03%
($665,891,650)
-56.02%
Marathon Digital Holdings Inc
MARA
($569,131,356)
-124.55%
($252,880,476)
-51.50%
Riot Platforms Inc
RIOT
($409,323,033)
-130.42%
($184,258,822)
-50.58%
Cleanspark Inc
CLSK
($105,589,641)
-268.84%
($82,858,736)
-137.44%
Hut 8 Corp
HUT
$15,902,278
50.06%
$36,753,657
81.28%
Terawulf Inc
WULF
($914,112)
-4.56%
$32,467
0.11%
Bit Digital Inc
BTBT
($22,690,927)
-95.00%
($14,645,477)
-54.92%
Cipher Mining Inc
CIFR
($21,728,403)
-85.34%
($4,565,982)
-12.76%
Bitdeer Technologies Group
BTDR
$450,199
42.82%
$826,096
29.75%
Bitcoin Depot Inc
BTM
$312,854
95.41%
$50,605
9.82%
Total Crypto Stocks
($6,049,078,212)
-61.80%
($2,655,822,036)
-148.23%
Crypto stock short sellers were down -$387 million in mark-to-market losses, -5.78%, yesterday.
Crypto Stocks MTM P\L
Ticker
12/4/23 MTM P\L
P\L %
Coinbase Global Inc
COIN
($182,916,796)
-5.32%
MicroStrategy Inc
MSTR
($110,378,748)
-6.50%
Marathon Digital Holdings Inc
MARA
($59,149,699)
-8.11%
Riot Platforms Inc
RIOT
($44,250,462)
-8.54%
Cleanspark Inc
CLSK
($21,760,076)
-14.85%
Hut 8 Corp
HUT
$41,901,668
132.86%
Terawulf Inc
WULF
($4,875,938)
-11.64%
Bit Digital Inc
BTBT
($4,255,570)
-10.63%
Cipher Mining Inc
CIFR
($628,928)
-1.79%
Bitdeer Technologies Group
BTDR
($282,578)
-5.87%
Bitcoin Depot Inc
BTM
($30,115)
-6.46%
Total Crypto Stocks
($386,627,242)
-5.78%
Crypto stocks have been consistently crowded shorts with an average 59.06 Crowded score on 9/11/23 and a slightly higher crowded score of 60.50 presently. The average U.S. crowded score is much lower at 32.89.
Crypto Stocks Crowded Score
Ticker
Crowded Score
Coinbase Global Inc
COIN
57.50
MicroStrategy Inc
MSTR
67.50
Marathon Digital Holdings Inc
MARA
70.00
Riot Platforms Inc
RIOT
55.00
Cleanspark Inc
CLSK
27.50
Hut 8 Corp
HUT
45.00
Terawulf Inc
WULF
57.50
Bit Digital Inc
BTBT
50.00
Cipher Mining Inc
CIFR
67.50
Bitdeer Technologies Group
BTDR
27.50
Bitcoin Depot Inc
BTM
30.00
Crypto Stocks Crowded Avg
60.50
9/11 Crowded Avg
59.06
U.S. Crowded Avg
32.89
But the average squeeze score for crypto stocks has increased dramatically from 50.30 on 9/11/23 to 95.78 today. The average U.S. squeeze score is 38.19.
Crypto Stocks Squeeze Score
Ticker
Squeeze Score
Coinbase Global Inc
COIN
100.00
MicroStrategy Inc
MSTR
87.50
Marathon Digital Holdings Inc
MARA
100.00
Riot Platforms Inc
RIOT
95.00
Cleanspark Inc
CLSK
87.50
Hut 8 Corp
HUT
0.00
Terawulf Inc
WULF
97.50
Bit Digital Inc
BTBT
100.00
Cipher Mining Inc
CIFR
67.50
Bitdeer Technologies Group
BTDR
67.50
Bitcoin Depot Inc
BTM
20.00
Crypto Stocks Squeeze Avg
95.78
9/11 Squeeze Avg
50.30
U.S. Squeeze Avg
38.19
With squeezes score over 90 for most of the most shorted crypto stocks, the sector is poised for a surge in short-squeeze based short covering.
Mark-to-market losses in crypto stocks continue to increase as crypto currency prices rally, which should lead to a reversal of the recent short selling we have been seeing in the sector. Buying-to-cover in the most shorted crypto stocks such as Coinbase Global (COIN), MicroStrategy (MSTR), Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) will help push stock prices higher along with the long buying that has driven up stock prices since the end of October.
Investors looking for crypto exposure can now pick between the actual crypto-currencies or crypto stocks – if the recent momentum continues, both look to outperform the market.
Looking at short selling trends over time provides insight into overall market sentiment as well as the strength of bearish conviction in individual equities. Our Blacklight SaaS platform and Black APP provides an up-to-date view of short selling and short covering on an equity, sector, index, or country-wide basis allowing investors\traders to better manage their existing long and short positions.
Our Blacklight SaaS platform and Black App provides an up-to-date view of short selling and short covering on an equity, sector, index, or country-wide basis allowing investors\traders to better manage their existing long and short positions.
The Black MaP and Black App products provide a total view of long and short positioning in the market with a breakdown between Active\Passive long investors, 24 Fund type entities, over 50k securities globally across 108 countries and data from 58 regulatory exchanges.
