Three data streams are moving at once for SAN. The options market is skewing bullish, cost to borrow has jumped sharply, and availability is widening — an unusual combination for Banco Santander's NYSE-listed ADRs.
The put-call ratio hit 0.3829 on June 30. That is 2.65 standard deviations above the 20-day mean of 0.347. In plain terms: call volume is running unusually high relative to puts. The 52-week range for the PCR runs from 0.24 to 0.54, so the reading sits in the middle of that band — but the pace of the move is what stands out. The ratio has climbed steadily over the past week as short interest fell 10.1%. Fewer shorts, more calls. Options traders are leaning the same direction.
The stock has cooperated. SAN is up 1.5% over the past week and 10.6% over the past month. It closed at $13.80 on June 30.
The lending market is sending a mixed signal. Cost to borrow rose 67.9% in one week to 1.81%. That is a meaningful jump in raw percentage terms, though the absolute level remains modest by historical standards for heavily traded ADRs.
Availability, however, is moving in the opposite direction. It now stands at 74.2% — meaning roughly three shares are available to borrow for every four already lent out. That puts the borrow market in tight but not extreme territory. The 52-week low on availability was 33.4%, hit earlier this year. Current conditions are noticeably looser than that trough.
The combination — rising borrow cost alongside rising availability — suggests lenders are repricing supply rather than hoarding it. There is more stock to borrow now than a month ago, but it costs more.
The ORTEX short score sits at 60.3, broadly stable over the past two weeks. The short score rank stands in the 88th percentile, meaning the lending market and short positioning signals remain elevated compared with the broader market — even as actual short shares declined.
Earnings are due July 22. The last print in late April produced a muted 1-day move of roughly +1%. Options positioning ahead of this quarter looks more constructive than the prior setup.
What to watch: Whether the PCR z-score holds above 2.0 into earnings, and whether borrow cost sustains its new level or resets lower as availability has loosened.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
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