AIQ — the Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF — presents a cleaner version of the same split that defined last week: short interest has continued to climb, while options traders are unwinding the defensive positioning that characterised most of May.
The options shift is now the more settled story. When this note last ran on June 10, the put/call ratio had just broken below 2.0 for the first time in weeks. It has kept falling. The PCR now reads 1.51, essentially unchanged from Monday's 1.53, and sits roughly one standard deviation below the 20-day mean of 1.91. That mean itself has drifted lower as the heavily hedged May readings roll off. The 52-week high was 2.64, hit in early May; the current level is closer to the floor of 0.34 than to that ceiling. Options traders who were paying up for downside protection through late spring have not returned to that posture, even after a 2.9% single-day pullback on June 16.
Short interest has accelerated meaningfully since last week's note. Borrowed shares have tripled over the past month — up 225% — and rose another 35% in the past week alone, bringing SI to roughly 0.73% of float. The absolute level is still low for an ETF, and the mechanics of basket-shorting mean this is almost certainly hedging activity rather than directional conviction. What is new is the pace: shares short peaked briefly above 1.7 million on June 11 before easing back to just over one million by June 16, suggesting active turnover rather than a static hedge being built. Borrow cost has moved in sympathy, rising 23% on the week to 1.39% — still cheap in absolute terms but at a six-week high. Availability has tightened to around 60%, well below the 163% reading seen on May 11, though it remains comfortably above the 52-week low of 25%.
The ORTEX short score sits at 45.9, essentially flat for the past ten days and near the middle of its range. That reading captures the tension neatly: short interest is rising fast, but borrow conditions remain loose enough that no squeeze pressure is building. The score has barely moved despite the tripling in shares short over thirty days, which reinforces the read that this is mechanical ETF activity rather than a crowd betting against AI.
The ETF itself is up 2.3% on the week to $64.64, recovering most of the ground lost in the prior session, and has added nearly 6% over the past month. The divergence between a rising price and rising short interest is consistent with basket-arb flows — market makers shorting the ETF against long positions in underlying names — rather than any bearish thesis on AI broadly.
What to watch next is whether the put/call ratio continues to compress further toward its 52-week low, or whether the June 16 dip re-ignites demand for downside protection heading into any macro catalyst that could rattle the large-cap tech names that dominate AIQ's holdings.
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