LIVE MARKETS-Meta tops short seller charts, says S3 Partners
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META TOPS SHORT SELLER CHARTS, SAYS S3 PARTNERS
Meta Platforms META.O has had a strong run in 2025, with its stock climbing 31% since the start of the year, but it has also lured strong short-selling activity, according to a report from S3 Partners.
The total value of short bets in Meta has ballooned by $11 billion for Meta so far this year, the analytics firm said, far outpacing all other U.S. stocks.
Short sellers are bearish investors who borrow stock and sell it, hoping to buy back when the price has declined, pocketing the difference.
Meta's 31% year-to-date (YTD) stock price gain accounts for roughly half of the rise in short interest notional, with the remainder driven by new shorts, the analysts said.
The second closest, Palantir Technologies PLTR.O, saw a far smaller $2.8 billion increase in short interest YTD.
This $11 billion jump in short interest notional is equivalent to the combined increase of the next five most-shorted stocks, including that of GE Vernova's GEV.N $2.6 billion, Microsoft's MSFT.O $2.2 billion, and Oracle's ORCL.N $2 billion, underscoring Meta's outsized role in current bearish positioning, the report said.
The following pie chart from S3 Partners offers a visual snapshot:
"META is the only Magnificent Seven stock showing an increase in short interest as a percentage of float, making it a clear standout in crowded shorts data," S3 Research team said in the note.
At the same time, S3 notes that long-term investors have been quietly reducing their holdings, suggesting that both sides of the market, those betting on gains and those betting on losses, are pulling back. But the scale of short selling far outweighs the decline in long positions.
(Joel Jose)
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S3 Partner's top U.S. short interest gainers YTD (in notional terms)
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