S&P 500 short flows grew by $1.5B this month, with notable increases in tech, discretionary, and industrials. AVGO, NVDA, and TSLA led new shorts, while AAPL and AMZN saw reductions. Despite significant activity, all sectors saw negative returns for shorts, led by tech and discretionary losses.

We analyzed the month-over-month change in short interest, multiplied by the share price to calculate a dollar value metric, focusing on the largest positions in the S&P 500.

This approach differs from short notional because that number would change if the stock price fluctuated while the short position remained the same. We are instead focusing on the value of shorts that were opened and closed.

We have highlighted the largest increases and decreases in short positions. The net effect was the creation of $1.5 billion in new shorts, mostly in tech, discretionary, and industrials. The results are summarized by sector.

Tech:

The largest sector position is in Information Technology, with $4.2 billion in new shorts opened and $3.6 billion in shorts closed, resulting in a net increase of $582 million. AVGO and NVDA were responsible for $1.8 billion and $1.05 billion of new shorts, driving this difference. Closing, AAPL closed $2 billion worth of shorts. Tech has the largest net swing.

Discretionary:

This sector saw a similar $528 million increase in net short positions, led by TSLA with $660 million and HD with $478 million, offset in part by AMZN’s $487 million decline. Discretionary was the best-performing sector, up 9%.

Industrials:

This sector experienced a similar $513 million increase in net short positions, led by UBER, HON, NAD, and BA, each with around $200 million.

Healthcare:

The healthcare sector was asymmetric, with nearly $500 million in new short positions and only $75 million in closings. The new healthcare shorts were spread equally among CVS, ABT, BMY, PFE, and MRNA. This may be related to the election, as the sector was down.

How Much Did the Shorts lose and in what Sectors

In terms of the gains and losses of the shorts by sectors, all the sectors were up and each sector is a loss.

Financials

Within financials a number of short position had small positive P&L’s and those down big were COIN ($1.51B), SOFI (0.85B), JPM(0.72B) APO (0.65B) and V (0.64B).

Technology

Within Tech many shorts were had large P&L, SMCI ($2.33B), AMD (1.06B), AAPL (0.61B), ENPH (0.61B) AVGO(0.65B), IBM(0,51B). The larger P&L Loses are MSTR (5B), NVDA(3.4B), APP (2.6B), PLTR (1.4B) MARA(0.72B) CRM (0.65B) These AAPL and AVGO-NVDA were netted vs either other in the new trades.

Consumer Discretionary

Within Consumer Discretionary a number of short positions had small positive P&L’s. Those with large negative P&L’s Include: Down a lot and the leader throughout is TSLA, reporting earnings and having election news, a loss of 6.8 B, half of the sector loss. Followed by AMZN ($1.7B), CVNA (0.73B) with a large short position and BKNG down (0.58B). TSLA had new short offset by AMZN’s closing.

Healthcare

MDGL biggest loser the rest small.

Short activity increased across major S&P 500 sectors, but negative returns highlight challenges in volatile conditions. Tech and discretionary were hit hardest, with TSLA and NVDA leading losses. These flows reflect nuanced market dynamics for short-sellers.

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