ProShares Ultra Technology has seen a dramatic reversal in its lending market since last week's defensive spike. The story has shifted from caution to capitulation — short sellers have largely exited, and the borrow pool has opened wide.
Short interest has collapsed. Over the past week, ROM's SI fell 82.8%, dropping to just 0.19% of free float. That follows a 60.5% weekly decline the week prior. In raw terms, shares short fell from roughly 101,800 on June 4 to under 17,500 by June 12 — an 83% reduction in ten days.
This is consistent with a covering wave, not a structural change in sentiment. The ETF itself has recovered 4.8% over the past week and 9.3% over the past month. Short sellers who built positions into the ~18% weekly plunge ending June 10 appear to have unwound quickly.
Given SI is now below 0.2% of float, the short book is negligible. This is not a squeeze story. It's a retreat.
Availability has surged to 3,647% — meaning there are roughly 36 shares available to borrow for every one currently lent out. That is an extraordinary loosening. As recently as June 3–4, availability sat at 131–149%, a genuinely tight window. Cost to borrow has followed: CTB dropped to 0.40%, down 55% week-on-week and down 66% over the past month. The lending market no longer reflects any meaningful short demand.
The ORTEX short score confirms the shift. It stood at 47.1 on June 4. It now sits at 27.5 — a near-halving in ten days, reflecting the combined collapse in SI, CTB, and borrow tightness.
Options traders have not fully relaxed. The put/call ratio stands at 0.60, with a z-score of 1.84 — still elevated relative to the 20-day mean of 0.38, though it has eased slightly from the 2.17 z-score seen on June 10. The 52-week high PCR is 0.75; ROM has not hit that level.
The previous note from June 10 flagged the PCR breaking above 2 standard deviations as the ETF nursed a 17.7% weekly loss. Since then, the ETF has recovered, SI has imploded, and borrowing costs have cratered. Yet options traders are still running above-average put protection. That divergence — short sellers gone, options buyers still cautious — is the key tension to watch.
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