FV Borrow Market Tightens Sharply Overnight

Why this matters: The lending market for FV — the First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF — has shifted dramatically in a single session. Cost to borrow jumped 329% in a week and availability collapsed to its tightest reading in months. For an ETF with tiny short interest, the speed of the move is the story.

Borrow Costs Jump, Availability Collapses

Cost to borrow hit 2.18% on June 22. That is nearly four times the 0.59% recorded just three days earlier on June 19.

Availability has fallen sharply alongside it. It stood at 67% as of June 22 — down from 130% the prior session and from above 560% in early June. That is now in tight territory: roughly one share available for every 1.5 already borrowed.

The drop is abrupt. For most of May and early June, availability sat comfortably above 300%. The compression into the 60s happened almost entirely in one week.

A Tiny Short Base, but Growing Fast

Short interest remains minimal at 0.18% of free float — well under any threshold that would make it a structural short story. But the direction matters. Shares short rose 43% in a single day on June 22, and are up 31% over the past week.

In absolute terms the position is small — roughly 103,000 shares. But something is driving fresh demand for borrows, and that demand is now running into a shrinking pool of available supply.

What the Signals Say Together

Three data points are now pointing in the same direction:

• Cost to borrow: 2.18%, up 329% week-on-week
• Availability: 67%, down 47% in a week — approaching the 52-week low of 63.5%
• Short shares: up 43% in one session, 31% over the week

For an ETF like FV, which rotates into momentum-leading sector funds, unusual borrow demand can sometimes reflect hedging activity tied to the underlying holdings rather than a directional bet on the ETF itself. That context is worth keeping in mind when reading these signals.

The ORTEX short score sits at 45.4 — mid-range, having moved only modestly over the past two weeks. It does not yet reflect the lending market tightness seen in the borrow data.

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• FV close (June 22): $73.98, +1.6% on the day, +3.6% over one month
• Cost to borrow: 2.18% vs. 0.51% a month ago
• Availability: 67% — down from 642% on June 3
• SI % of free float: 0.18% (low absolute level, rising rapidly)
• Short score: 45.4