What Is A Short Squeeze? Definition, Facts, And How To Trade A Short Squeeze In Crypto

You can sell it at $10 and then be forced to buy it back at $20 … or $200 … or $2 million. GameStop – a struggling retail chain selling video games and accessories – shot higher by as much as 2,464% at the peak of its 2021 short squeeze in January. Even now, after several spurts and pullbacks, it remains up after a considerable pullback, it remains up 1,070%. We believe everyone should be able to make financial decisions with confidence.

• Most of this price movement came from the holding company Porsche SE, as well as the German government, who both owned a great deal of the shares, meaning very few shares were actually being traded publicly.
• Everyone who shorted the stock between $9 and $5 is now in a losing position.
• Open to Public Investing is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Public Holdings, Inc. (“Public Holdings”).
• Its articles, interactive tools and other content are provided to you for free, as self-help tools and for informational purposes only.
• More often than not, the move is strong enough to trigger short-side stop loss orders, forcing traders out of their positions.
• It’s also possible to hedge with options contracts (unless they are small caps without options available).

One short seller had a huge position in the stock, and short interest was greater than the number of shares of outstanding stock. Short squeezes work by forcing short-sellers to buy back the assets they have sold out of fear that their losses will be magnified if other short-sellers close their positions. Short-sellers do not want others to buy the assets for more than they did, so there is no one left in a position to drive up prices. This can often lead short-sellers how does short squeeze work into “panic buying.” The price goes up quickly, and the short-seller has little time or capital to get out. The next massive short squeeze happened on April 2, 2019, when Bitcoin price broke upward out of its downtrend resistance for a 22% move in just one day. Again in late 2019, heavy short interest after Bitcoin broke down from $10,000 resulted in a 42% move within 48 hours as short positions were squeezed rapidly on positive news coming out of China.

Short squeeze vs. Naked Short-Selling: What’s the Difference?

This type of squeeze is often caused by a company or asset experiencing good news and/or positive rumors. This can lead short-sellers to cover their positions, buying back the shares they have sold, which drives the price up even further. The primary indicators investors and traders can watch for include short interest, short interest ratio, open interest, funding rates, and much more. Plenty of technical indicators can also help support the setup of a potential short squeeze. For example, traders can also look for oversold conditions which could create an environment ripe for a short squeeze. Short interest is highest when investors and traders believe an asset is overvalued and will soon drop in price.

This invites more participants to the table as they pile into the shares both long and short. If you look at the technical chart, as the short interest started to increase, price fell sharply. At the same time, the technical indicators were pointing to a bullish divergence. A bullish divergence is where the new low in price fails to form a new low on the oscillator. The first step is to figure out with the stock is in a rally or a decline.

M&A and Your Stock

A squeeze is a market situation where the price of a stock, bond, or commodity being sold short has been pushed up into an illiquid trading range, making it difficult to sell short. Benzinga details how a short squeeze works, why it happens and the factors investors need to consider to minimize the risks of falling into the short squeeze trap. Short squeezes can introduce a lot of volatility into stocks and send share prices sharply higher. These squeezes offer opportunities for trading, but they often require different strategies and more caution than traditional breakouts. The rotation of participants is a cycle of new buyers coming in while old shorts stop out and new shorts coming in as old buyers take profits results in a perpetual rise in prices. Besides the above strategy, you can also develop your own such as trading short when the short interest starts to build.

However, if the stock price increases, the short seller is still liable for the price of the stock when it is sold. So, if the trader buys back the stock at $30 instead of $5 (as in the example above), the loss is $5 per share, or $500. Other important short squeezes have happened all throughout cryptocurrency history. The entire 2017 bull rally in crypto was said to be a heavily shorted rally, as most people expected Bitcoin to correct starting at $5,000 per coin, when it climbed all the way to $20,000. After the eventual peak of that bull market, the next largest short squeeze happened on April 12, 2018, when Bitcoin price climbed 17% in a single day due to an abundance of short positions expecting new lows. Short squeezes are a fairly common occurrence and can be spotted in advance by analyzing important indicators like open interest, bearish sentiment, and short interest ratio.

Short interest percentage

There are two sides of a short squeeze and careful considerations must be taken on each. Being caught on the wrong side of a short squeeze is one of the worst experiences a trader can go through. It’s akin to being viciously dragged into the ocean by a riptide while strolling on the beach. As a day trader, one also needs to pay attention to the fundamentals which can potentially bring about a change in the direction of the price.

Short-selling is when someone sells something they do not own, hoping to replace it at a lower purchase price. Although short interest is the more important factor, how high open interest is as a whole matters. If open interest is low, there may not be enough short positions for a meaningful short squeeze.

Short Squeeze – What is it and How to Identify the Setup

They generally opt to sell out immediately, even if it means taking a substantial loss. This was bad news for short-sellers, who had bet the stock would keep https://www.bigshotrading.info/ falling. Unlike most investors, who want their stocks to appreciate, short-sellers make money when stock prices go down and lose money when they go up.

More traders have shifted their sentiment from bearish to bullish, and they also close their positions out of fear of loss. The compounded demand creates a short squeeze and leads to a significant price increase. After shorting the stock, the short seller then closes the sell position and returns the stock back to the broker. There have been many studies and articles covering the risks of short selling.

Why Do Short Squeezes Happen?

However, due to the risks of short selling and the margin requirements trading the upside is always a better opportunity. The catch however is in understanding when a short squeeze occurs. In general terms, when the short float ratio is more than 40%, the market sentiment is bearish. However, it is not uncommon to see the short float rate even higher at 50%. Due to the price sensitivity, short-sellers tend to close out their positions at the slightest hint of an upturn in the stock. Eventually, the short-sellers are squeezed out leading to demand which in turn pushes the stock higher.