Robinhood Markets Inc.’s move late last week to end buying limits on GameStop has had limited impact on the stock, which has lost most of its gains since touching an intraday high at $483 on Jan. 28. Inflated levels of short interest that triggered a squeeze on the shares have declined after a number of hedge funds closed positions and incurred huge losses.
“Extremely elevated short interest is a pre-condition for a major short squeeze to occur,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists wrote in a note dated Feb. 5, saying that GameStop — on which short interest had exceeded 100% of the float of the company — has been a “highly unusual” situation.
Volumes in GameStop options remained high, with open interest in puts and calls rising further last week as the stock price tumbled. While calls open interest has climbed, volumes on the bearish put contracts have jumped to almost five times the amount.
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“While the GME game may have come to an end — at least for now — its after-effects will linger,” Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, wrote in a note. “New regulations are likely to arise, and we can only hope that they are sensible.”
The short interest (shares sold short but not yet covered) has plummeted from over 110% to under 30%. Roughly speaking looking at mid Jan to now, the shorts got wiped to the tune of about $12b. Nice!