XNTK, the State Street SPDR NYSE Technology ETF, enters September with a mild one-week pullback that masks a more constructive broader picture — and the short-side data confirms bears have almost entirely stepped back.
The most striking development in the positioning data is how sharply short interest has unwound. Shorts were more than twice as large just two weeks ago. Estimated short shares have collapsed by 58% over the past week, falling from around 24,800 shares in late August to just over 10,300 on September 1. That leaves short interest at a negligible 0.22% of free float — well below any threshold where short pressure could meaningfully affect price. Borrow availability is effectively limitless, with over 844,000 shares available to lend, a figure the data caps at 9,999% of shares already borrowed. Cost to borrow is running at 3.3%, down roughly 9% on the week and off nearly 18% over the past month — a direction that fits the picture of waning demand for the short side. The ORTEX short score of 27.7 sits comfortably in the lower range, consistent with a name where short-side conviction is thin.
Options positioning is modestly more defensive than usual, though not dramatically so. The put/call ratio has edged up to 0.66, about 1.3 standard deviations above its 20-day average of 0.61. That is the highest the ratio has been in recent weeks — it ranged between 0.47 and 0.60 through most of July and early August before ticking higher. Relative to the 52-week range, which has seen readings as low as zero and as high as 3.71, current options positioning reads as cautious at the margins rather than genuinely fearful. It may reflect routine hedging after XNTK's 4.4% gain over the past month, rather than any specific directional view.
On the institutional side, Auto-Owners Insurance remains by far the dominant holder, with 1.29 million shares representing 23.5% of shares outstanding as of the June quarter-end. The insurer trimmed 169,100 shares over the period — a meaningful reduction, though it retains an outsized anchor position. Tiedemann Advisors and Exchange Traded Concepts both added meaningfully in Q2, the latter entering as a fresh holder with nearly 70,000 shares. Northwestern Mutual and New Harbor Financial trimmed, each cutting by more than 20,000 shares. The picture is one of modest rotation around the edges rather than any wholesale shift in the holder base.
The fund slipped 1.9% on the day and 1.0% on the week, consolidating after a month in which it gained 4.4% — broadly in line with what one would expect from a diversified large-cap technology ETF tracking NYSE-listed names. No earnings event is scheduled, which means near-term price action is likely to track the broader tech tape rather than any fund-specific catalyst. With short interest at multi-month lows and borrow conditions extremely loose, the next signal worth watching is whether the modest uptick in put/call ratio continues to build or fades back toward the July range.
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